This apartment in Midtown NYC, by Hariri & Hariri, was formed by merging two units on the 35th floor of a brown brick behemoth of a certain age, which belonged to notorious Beatles and Rolling Stones manager Allen Klein. Hariri & Hariri’s Gisue and Mojgan Hariri, sisters and Interior Design Hall of Fame members, demolished rooms for flow, where dropped ceilings were installed to modulate space. “Sculpting with highs and lows,” Gisue Hariri explains. The lows, she points out, correspond to cozy zones with plush seating—so guests have the inclination to sit. Lowness was a problem, however, when it came to the placement of the window openings. To camouflage it, a continuous soffit hugs the ceiling around the perimeter.
Flooring in the public zones is now a creamy limestone, complemented by matching paint for the walls and ceiling. “Our design is not just three-dimensional but multidimensional, because we determine both the materials and the colors as we go,” Gisue Hariri notes. Art was also acquired progressively. The architects would insert a piece in their digital models, for review by the owners, then purchase and warehouse upon approval. Even earlier, before construction began, much of the furniture was selected.
“The owners were adamant about color in the art objects, fabrics, and finishes,” Gisue Hariri says. That explains the spirited Florentine blue on the wall in the guest room as well as the Frank Lloyd Wright red for a son’s room. Giant, colorful pill sculptures cascade down a column between the living area and the essentially contiguous den. Gisue Hariri wryly terms the installation an “homage to New Yorkers, all on pills of one kind or another.” It’s also a subtle nod to the apartments’ rocking past.
