Ash 4 Ways
2005
New York, New York

Design awards: 

AIA New York Chapter, Merit Award 2005
Wood Design and Building Council, Honor Award, 2005

Ash 4 Ways is a Manhattan apartment where ash is used in four different states of finish within a minimalist white envelope. The apartment finishes are primarily ash, with different finishes: white finished, sandblasted ash (wall panels); sand-blasted, acid washed and wire-brush scrubbed ash with high gloss white finish (bedroom furniture); natural finish ash door panels; and natural hand-rubbed, wax finished 5” thick wood from ancient ash trees.

Most of the ash has a white, shop-applied finish, to make the apartment envelope relatively silent. Throughout the project, pieces of old, ash planks with a hand-rubbed finish float within the neutral, white envelope. The white envelope is differentiated on inspection, however, by the varying degrees of wood grain. The painted ash is acid dipped and wire brushed, or sand-blasted, so that the wood grain appears more or less prominently. Painted panels are juxtaposed to natural-finished ash door panels and free-form ash planks from ancient ash trees harvested locally in upper New York State.

The principal materials for the two bathrooms are: natural finished solid ash doors: white-painted sand-blasted ash wall panels; translucent, hand-made glass tiles by MBC studios, a family owned glass atelier in upstate New York, as well as translucent glass panels. One bath makes the eastern edge of the living room, with translucent glass. This bath has a shower. The other bath has a privacy window (painted sand-blasted ash), which can be opened to the adjacent master bedroom.

The desired overall effect was to create a space of calm where the large pieces of free-form ash from ancient trees could float. This wood is in reference to the Nature in Central Park, which the apartment overlooks.