Designer Notes

Designer's Notes

This kitchen contains many green elements: Aura Benjamin Moore paint, CaesarStone counters, Energy Star-rated appliances and reclaimed floors. A wall is removed separating the kitchen from the living dining area. This new open floor plan makes the area appear bigger and floods the space with natural light and good cross ventilation.

By installing brick facade to the large wall, the ordinary track home takes on an urban loft like feel. Using Low-E windows is a green way to avoid high energy costs for heating and cooling and prevents fading of your furniture.



Custom floor-to ceiling resin sliding doors with red metal strips ingrained in the resinprovide ample space for the closet. The red woven area rug and the strips in the sliding doors match the burnt orange wall in the stair hall beyond.



The state of the art kitchen for this gourmet cook owner features Poliform cabinetry throughout, stainless steel appliances and a back-painted glass backsplash that reflects the mood of the owner in the changeable LED light that shines on it.



The dark wenge backdrop to the bed incorporates a cove with a hidden LED lightstrip that can be adjusted according to mood. The simple bed is nestled between 2 floating nightstands. A red woven area rug over the natural wide-plank flooring defines the sleeping area.



The stone mass of the fireplace against the burnt orange wall, the dark wenge cabinetry against the natural wide plank floors and the simplicity of every move make for a powerful focal point in this Washington, DC apartment. The boulders are actually soft poufs for extra sitting.


Looking back from the living room towards the Game room, the striped backs of the lounge chairs themselves become a design feature. Light floods the space from all directions. On winter nights the fireplace becomes the gathering place for drinks and conversation.

High Rise Architecture

The well-guarded little secret of recently built New York apartments at swank addresses is that the interiors are often banal and the construction iffy, the result of developers designing buildings with their calculators. The apartments coast on drop-dead views. Here on the Upper West Side, a hop, skip and a jump from Lincoln Center, the clients wanted to reset the equation so that the interiors matched the views in quality and drama as they achieved a higher environmental IQ. An energy-consuming Manhattan apartment could go green.


New Yorkers called on Hariri & Hariri Architecture to design a Modernist apartment on the 45th floor of a Manhattan tower, the clients asked for environmental intelligence. Collectors and travelers, the couple brought a sophisticated eye to the commission, matched by elevated environmental expectations. They had stayed in many hotels wired to optimize comfort and minimize energy consumption.