When NEW YORK COUPLE Randy and Artimesia (“Art”) were looking for a contemporary loft space with serious square footage, they cast about in neighborhoods off the beaten path. The Big Apple has always offered neighborhoods with plenty of grit to go with their ample character, flavor and authenticity—no mean feat in a city constantly evolving and gentrifying with over eight million inhabitants and only 322 square miles. “We’ll always be looking for the next gritty space,” says Randy. Art adds, “To be in a place before the identity is irreparably altered is to…understand and experience the essence of [it and] appreciate all the layers.”
In 2002, they settled on an empty space ready to be rebuilt from the studs up in Cooper Square, a neighborhood lined by the East Village, the Bowery and the Lower East Side that only a few years ago was largely characterized by derelict townhouses and illegal vendors hawking illicit magazines.
So, gritty neighborhood: check. Raw loft space: check. Architect: ? The couple had always had a keen eye for design, but Randy especially leaned towards the contemporary. One day while flipping through a decor magazine, he spotted a perfectly designed home and said, “That’s what I want my place to look like.” Turns out the people who created that home—Katherine Chia and Arjun Desai of Desai/Chia Architecture—happened to live in Randy and Art’s thenresidence. And so it began that all the couple had to do was hop an elevator to discuss their plans for a modern home.
The first order for Chia and Desai was to take the blank space and design a family residence—no easy task with 5,000 square feet to fill. Randy and Art have two little children, and they wanted them to be able to roam free and climb furniture. Considering that the family was coming from 1,200 square feet, furniture was also going to have to go on the wish list. There were also major technical complications, with exposed ceilings where myriad ducts and wires would have to be hidden. The designers knew that harnessing light on all three sides of the space was imperative regardless of how they would lay out the maze of rooms within. However, considering their backgrounds at MIT, it came as no surprise that Chia and Desai reveled in the technical challenges. 
For the loft’s core walls, the architects used a combination of slatted blond ash and clear glass, allowing light to filter through while still maintaining visual and acoustical privacy in the rooms themselves. The wood grain is perfectly straight and aligned on each piece, a seemingly small detail that takes incredible craftsmanship to achieve. Says Chia of the project’s general contractor,

The ingenious natural-lighting solution is best appreciated in the home’s bathrooms.

David Giovannitti of Giovannitti Inc., “Very few home builders can pull off the level of quality that David can.” 
The ingenious natural-lighting solution is best appreciated in the home’s bathrooms. In the master ensuite bath, the focal point of the couple’s private space is the slatted wood walls that capture natural light from the adjacent bedroom. Round, muted gray porcelain tiles dot the rest of the interior walls and offer an alternate surface material for contrast and visual interest. While the shower and WC are seamlessly tucked behind the backwall, a stand-alone tub serves as the centerpiece. All in all, it’s a cozy spot within the parents’ hideaway where they play with their kids both in and out of the bath. The two other bathrooms mimic the same idea, featuring smart materials that offer peace and quiet from the rest of the vast space—and all use wood slatting and clear glass (which also provides a moisture barrier) to circulate light throughout. 
The rest of this modern home is likewise geared toward family living. The family room, living room and dining room are all connected to the kitchen, creating one large bright congregating space. But nothing is off-limits or too precious to touch: A rocking horse adds flavor to the living room, and the children often sit on the long, monolithic island in the kitchen, where steel used for bridges is also used to secure the cantilevered structure.
Fast-forward six years, through a two-year building process and the constant hum of cranes signaling the way for shiny new structures in a suddenly bustling neighborhood. Randy and Art’s best-laid plans for grit were buried in the dust of a grimy adjacent parking lot that made way for a smart new tower. But their dreams of a contemporary oasis in the middle of a buzzing city stayed intact. With the help of Chia and Desai, their home—now prime real estate—became a veritable clean slate on which to imprint bright new family memories.