Strategy Urban consultant
My request to Daniel and Noam was straightforward
James Lima, an urban strategy consultant and entrepreneur who has spent 20 or more summer weekends living aboard a yacht, has a thing for tiny, well-designed rooms. “My request to Daniel and Noam was straightforward: Help me display my artwork and create a living place that is comfortable, quiet, light, and queer,” says the urban regeneration leader who is presently overseeing the renovation of the famous and long-abandoned Buffalo Central Terminal.
Daniel and Noam, specifically? Lima met Daniel Rauchwerger and Noam Dvir, the co-founders and lead architects of the New York architecture company BoND, through overlapping professional networks. Rauchwerger explains, “I feel it was crucial for him to include us as an emerging design company with a gay identity and mission, in addition to his admiration for our work and aesthetic.”
Minimalist aesthetic
The apartment’s bones served as the starting point for Rauchwerger and Dvir’s interior design. In fact, the building, constructed in the 1920s by Farrar & Watmough, is one of the oldest and most recognizable residential structures in downtown New York. “And its history needed to be acknowledged,” adds Rauchwerger, who also took influence from European architects of the 1900s, such as Marcel Breuer and Mies van der Rohe, known for their steel pipe and metal industrial furniture designs. “We intended to exhibit the friction that existed at the time in the design world by reflecting European modernist thought in the more architecturally conservative surroundings of New York.”
Given Lima’s clean, minimalist aesthetic, the architects selected masculine hues and materials. However, because this was a rental flat, they could not alter the floor, walls, or ceiling. “Therefore, the sole new addition was a floor-to-ceiling curtain in a sheer off-white cloth,” jokes Rauchwerger, adding that the design changes were mostly on partitioning the studio into several zones and nooks. Indeed, there is lots of charm for a property of this size.
For instance, the living room is not just a living room. It’s a treasure trove of paintings and unique objects that reflect Lima’s life story: “The art here is highly significant to me, especially the works by gay artists such as Tim Greathouse, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Robert Andy Coombs, Stephen Kuzma, Richard Haines, and Lisa Kereszi.”
The dining space is lighter and brighter
Lima is not your typical New Yorker, at least in terms of entertainment. “In general, New Yorkers do not host guests in their homes. I am the exception,” he adds, adding that the dining room table serves a dual purpose in this respect. “By day, it’s a Zoom-tailored home office with six discrete drawers, and by night, it’s a sunset gathering location.” Similarly, the dining space is lighter and brighter than the living room, establishing its own personality with off-white and beige hues, light oak wood, and aisles of colorful books.
“This project took place during the height of the pandemic lockdown, and it may be claustrophobic to be confined in a small studio apartment. Rauchwerger reveals that space-saving solutions, such as the dining nook-come-office, were a game-changer. “We attempted to infuse the design with enough personality without making it too crowded,” he says. “I had a few programming specifications. “I was mostly interested in seeing Noam and Daniel’s design process and seeing how they utilized my artwork,” Lima explains. This is my comfy hotel room, a warm urban nest filled with the art that is most meaningful to me.
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