LEVRAT DESIGN

Project:

121 E 37 Street Townhouse

Phase:

Renovation Under Construction

Description:

The townhouse in Midtown Manhattan is located between Lexington and Park Avenue on 37 Street. Its central location next to the headquarter of the United Nation and Grand Central Terminal makes it a very valuable residential project. The five stories building has 12 apartments to be entirely renovated. The gut renovation replace all the mechanical and plumbing system, while reconfiguring the distribution of most of the floor plans. The first floor has 14 feet tall ceiling, allowing the inclusion of a mezzanine for the apartment 2A, 2B and 2C. The generous double height space over the living room is spatially impressive, while the denser space of the kitchen, bathroom and the loft bedroom is rationally designed to offer a maximization of the usable space.

The renovation tries to reveal the historical features of the original building, by exposing one brick wall in each apartment, exposing the wooden ceiling joist over the living rooms and restoring the original chimneys. Working through contrasts, the new mezzanine floor steel structure is revealed to offer a strong dialogue with the existing framework.

Project:

Addition to an existing house - South Mountain Road - Gardiner

Phase:

Completed

Description:

The addition to a modest existing house in Gardiner was an opportunity to reposition the house with the landscape. On a large flag lot, the new project duplicates the existing two story house with a similar volume and add a long single story connection. The intermediary space is low and horizontal, establishing a link between the two residential volumes. But more importantly it constitutes a link between the natural landscape and the interior landscape. A large terrace extends the entire front of the house to the generous garden, swimming pool and the forest in the background. The horizontal and resolutely modern element operates as a transition layer, with transitional programs such as the entry foyer, the open studio and the Argentinian “quincho” or barbeque space.

The verticality of the existing trees contrast nicely with the horizontal layers of the new roof, terrace, and swimming pool, all slowly negotiating as large plateaus the gentle slope of the existing terrain.

Project:

143 Avenue B - DB Residence

Phase:

Finished construction 2014

Description:

Two apartment are combined to create a spacious apartment. The privileged position of the Cristadora as the only tall building in the East Village allows some stunning views. The design take advantage of this condition by creating a fluid and open space along the perimeter of the building, letting a maximum amount of light and view penetrate the apartment. The North master bedroom has a fantastic view of the Empire State building and Midtown, while the East and South view are overlooking the Lower East side and the Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The apartment is build around a central core of the master bathroom, the guest bathroom and the kitchen. The kitchen is open to the living room with a floating island. The strong light is reflected on the white wall, while it is absorbed by a dark stained Oak floor. The door and door frame are in similar dark oak tone.

The guest bedroom and the living room are separated by a rotating library, made of black steel, pivoting as two large doors, allowing the space to vary from a large living room to a more intimate two bedroom.

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Project:

Villa in Italy

Phase:

Completed

Description:

In a tiny Italian village, overlooking the Calabrian sea, the house is part of a contiguous fabric of very modest houses, build partially in stone and in compacted mud. The very thick walls of about 60 cm of compacted mud are a necessary thermal insulation for the hot summer climate. Build around a continuous street front and a carved out courtyard, the semi-public sharing spaces are as important as the interior space. Faced with such strong cultural tradition, the transformation of the house is merely to reinforce the existing cultural spatial usages, opening the courtyard and reviving a traditional space and way of communal life. Simple expression of the stone base is respected, white traditional stucco covers the mud blocks while the terracotta roof tiles merge seamlessly with the continuous village roofscape.

Project:

Residential Renovation of a Brownstone Apartment in Manhattan

Phase:

Completed

Description:

An entire floor of a brownstone residence on 49th street of New York City was redesigned. The long and narrow typology, offering light at either end of the building called for an elongation of the central spaces to reach both sides for access to natural light and ventilation. A single very large piece of build-in furniture crosses the entire residence as an organizing spine. Tilted with a three degrees angles from the existing walls the “Grand Meuble” affirm its spatial and geometrical autonomy. Opening slightly towards the public space it invites the visitor towards the living room, while constraining the space in the directions of the bedrooms. It also creates a slight visual ambiguity, as the tapering of the space creates a cone of vision forced perspective, questioning the precedence of the visual or the physical perception of space. The single linear Grand Meuble incorporate all the elements of the house, from the dining table, projecting into the living room, the kitchen counter, the storage and display of the many musical library of the owner, while the inner side of the Grand Meuble becomes the bathroom closet and linen closets for the master bedroom. The Grand Meuble defines all the spaces in the residence, but visually try appear as an object, not touching the ceiling or any other walls. The few perpendicular walls are therefore constructed in glass blocks letting light go through, while the top of the spine is also reaching the ceiling with the help of glass blocks. The small three degrees angles is enough to generate a strong dynamic and fluid circulation to the apartment.

Project:

A proposed eight-­story residential building in Dubai.

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

A proposed eight-­story residential building in a new development zone of Dubai was designed in response to the demand for balconies and external shading devices. The integration of balconies into a gridded facade pattern allows the residential building to operate as a large abstract sculpture. The triple layers of the balconies correspond to the triple layers of the grid. The grid extends from the balconies beyond the top floor, creating a frame for the sky. The distribution of space within the building is pragmatically-­oriented, with a central corridor offering each apartment unit a private balcony and view. The abstract and puzzle­like nature of the facade offers an interesting contrast to the building’s domestic function.

Project:

Residential Building in Dubai 

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

In Dubai, the “Image-surface” of the building is the essential component for its materialization. The façade is what allow the developer to pre-sale the apartment and sell a dream for a vacation residence for investors who do not really need such a home. The design of a fluid façade, which operate as a balcony layer and a shading device layer, allow the inner façade to be a relatively simple glass wall, while the outer concrete façade express the image of the building while protecting the apartment from the direct sunlight. A continuous curvilinearity design offers a protective veil while showing a strong identity and playfulness for a very compact and economical floor plan layout.

Project:

Phase:

Completed

Description:

Project:

A proposed 35-story residential tower on Shams Island in Abu Dhabi.

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

This project consisted of a new, 35-story tower to be built on Shams Island, a new development zone off the coast of Abu Dhabi. Located on a unique corner at the edge of a park, the site demanded a striking design. The idea of an inscription of rising movement inspired the design, as the horizontal and vertical planes give the impression of a tower soaring toward the sky. The notational system of the window grid registers the multiple positions of the five repetitive volumes, establishing an internal dialogue which suggests a vertical displacement. The incremental shift does not end at the vertical position, but rather continues upwards and begins to tilt backwards, presenting a dynamic, seemingly uncontrolled inertia.

Project:

Hotel at Abu Dhabi

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

In a world where the Logic of the Image is competing with the Logic of the Volume, we decided to explore the minimum volume for a maximum surface. The strategy of folding a bi-dimensional surface, increasing its surface presence as a set of nooks and folds, where space could be occupied, was explored to the limits of a geometrical context. The Canal Hotel, located in Abu Dhabi, is the result of very short charette design –with the invaluable participation of Alberto Garcia and Angela Sanbuchi – but reflecting on a well developed theory of increased surface/image culture.

The slightly undulating surface of the hotel is covered in an abstract patterns of glass and solids, while the modulation of the surface allows the lower floors to jump over the street, providing a restaurant, lounge and other amenities to the extended ground floor connecting to the beach.

Project:

Residential Building in Dubai

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

This tower for a new development in Dubai was planned for the center of an entirely new neighborhood. The operating process in Dubai resides in the fascination for the image and the visually consumable surface, which can be transported, advertised, and sold to generate the actual physical building virtually represented. Following this ambiguity between surface and volume, the design strategy is to produce a complex surface, connecting the different parts of the building. The parking garage, entry lobby, shopping galleries, the main residential body as well as the crown are all linked as one meandering surface, which takes on the role of linking as well as expressing the specificity of the building. The 32 stories tower is also based on a folded plan, which offers maximum surfaces for views and balconies. The image identity of the tower is generated through a criticism of the notion of the image, trying to resist a simple consumption of the image with slightly ambiguous appearance from one side or the other, from a single tower to a double tower.

Project:

Housing in Sharja

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

A high density luxury housing on a newly constructed Island in Sharja, United Arab Emirates, was designed as a rapid request from a developer. The large outside walls transform slightly form one building to the next, starting as vertical extrusions, which slowly bend as they progress towards the see. The increasing curvature of the party walls give a distinct identity to the new compound, while keeping the design to a minimal level. The two main facades, in opposition to the mostly blind party walls, are all glazed and open to the view, with a system of linear balconies to provide some shade and protection to the enclosed part of the residence.

Project:

Tower in Dubai

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Proposed as a variation in Dubai for a developer who was interested by the initial design of the Shams tower, the Millenium tower proposal is a rationalized variation of the rotating section tower. Rather than incrementally rotating five degrees, the Millenium tower has a repeated mid-section. The design is far from the most interesting, but the negotiation with the developer forced a large number of compromises. The grouping of levels into blocks of seemingly rotating angle offers and interesting identity to the thirty stories tower. The positive side of the compromises with the developer was for the tower to be entirely presold to a real estate marketing office who pretended to have sold every single apartment to private investor, allowing for the tower construction to be fully financed. Unfortunately, a severe economic crisis hit Dubai as construction plans were finalized and the project ultimately was cancelled.

Project:

High Rise in Dubai

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Based on a odd shaped site the thirty stories Liwan tower is formed around a cruciform floor plate. The high intensity of the sunlight in Dubai requires a double façade while the cruciform plan allows to bring some shaded light to the central space of the tower. The tower is not a direct extrusion as the volume expend progressively in its midsection to taper again towards the top of the building. The Podium is too large to be fully integrated in the design and only one side of the façade’s layer merge horizontally to become the entrance lobby of the tower. The metallic mesh operates as a shading device in front of the large floor plate, but as they continue past the occupiable volume, the shading secondary façade becomes the crown element of the tower, free standing sculpturally in the busy Dubai skyline.

Project:

Residential Project

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

The initial design project for a family house was based on a reactive condition to the typically efficient orthogonal boxes found in the neighborhood. A large vertical wall would separate and protect the house from the street, while the garden side would be open to free geometries emerging from this boundary wall. The attempt at not layering the plans in a structural way, but rather exploring specific views, and individual programs generated some very free and playful facades. The double height space of the glazed living room would blend with the surrounding nature, while the cantilevered bedroom balconies would project themselves withing the direction of specific viewpoints.

Project:

Residential Project

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Located in a farmland outside of Kabul the design wants to optimize the views of the surrounding green fields of fruit trees and grape wines. A stone platform is covered by a large roof, held by a four by four grid of columns. The ample shade provided by the simple structure allows the full perimeter of the house to be covered by a wooden and glass continuous window. Three stone walls penetrate the perfect square geometry to define program elements on the inside as well as the subdividing the outside gardens. The natural texture of the stone walls represent the outside landscaping character, pulling the outdoor spaces towards the inside. By not reaching full height, the walls never fully enclose the space, but rather qualify the space and its programs. Additional glass partition would protect the private rooms acoustically from the rest of the house.

A large pool of water would also transgress the inside outside boundaries, bringing another natural element into the more controlled environment of the house. The farmland is enclosed within large mud walls which defines the outdoor spaces in combination with the stone walls.

Project:

High Rise in Dubai

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Two twin thirty stories towers were designed for a new development in Dubai. The main design concept is the superposition of three different grids, operating at slightly different scale. The primary grid is based on the floor to floor dimension, while the two larger grids are three times as large. The large grids protrude from the façade providing balconies spaces. One of the grids protrude one meter twenty while the other grid is extending the façade only by eighty centimeters. The overlay of these three grids provides a playful reading of interaction between a recognizable pattern and a more complex superposition. The usage of only a glass and a solid material allow a relatively abstract geometrical reading while the massing reflects the maximization of the allowable FAR with the inclusion of commercial spaces in the podium.

Project:

Renovation of a residential building located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, this residential building is being renovated constantly. Small interior transformations on the hundred and twenty apartments are happening on a rotating basis, upgrading the prewar infrastructure. The bathrooms and the kitchens are usually the elements that need the most renovation, but the overall living configurations are also being re-planed. The larger living room and hall ways are demolished to make space for an additional bedroom, transforming studios into one bedrooms or one bedrooms into two bedrooms.
The use of movable partitions and frosted glass allow to create flexible spaces with higher densities, where the diurnal and nocturnal programs can coexist in the same space. Open kitchens overlap with the living room and the dinning space, while sliding doors allows the living room to expend into the bedrooms.

Project:

Hotel Project in Venezuela

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

A large site in the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo was designed to house a mixture of programs. To respond to the complexity of the various programs – shopping center, office space, hotel – the design follows a strict geometrical cubic volume. Within this perfect cube, where the horizontal dimension is paired by the vertical dimension, the center is voided to allow light and air. The different vertical volumes provide holes and partial heights to define enough the essence of the cubic volume, while at the same time being playful in the association of the different programmatic pieces. The result is a balance of geometries and variations similar to a three dimensional puzzle, where the presence of the voids are as important as the solids.

Project:

New Housing Project for the Underprivileged in South Africa

Phase:

Completed

Description:

72 housing units have been built in one of the most dangerous and underprivileged shantytown of the planet. Over a period of ten years, involving the participating community, Frederic Levrat and Urban Think Tank have developed a model of incremental improvement for the local residents.

Housing becomes much more than just a roof over one’s head. Housing is the generative fabric of the city and the starting point of the urban community. The constitution of a community is a complex multi-parameter process, and it builds up slowly and incrementally. The “Community Fabric” is typically not included into the financial equation of a housing development, accepting that it will emerge somehow spontaneously. Urban_Think_Tank values and respects the immaterial but essential human cultural fabric of the urban citizens and wants to empower these existing human communities. Even if these communities are not sanctioned by the city’s authorities and invisible to the conventional real estate business calculations.

Project:

Studio Apartment 

Phase:

Completed

Description:

With its entry on a half level, the studio apartment needed a resolution of its circulation. The client - through a renovation of the Brownstone due to a violation related to an oil tank buried under the building - had excavated a deeper basement, providing more room to be exploited. The upper Mezzanine becomes the bedroom while under the mezzanine a compact block of utilities houses the kitchen and the bathroom. The path of the stairs, meandering around the room, with a large landing at the entrance of the apartment, becomes the main element of the studio. The handrail is the only important element, detailed precisely, to allow a swift and sensuous transition between the half levels. A single large window is added to the façade, providing plenty of sunlight to the half-buried space.

Project:

Geometric Roofscape - Southold Beach House

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Architecture is a language of elements that relate to each other, in rhythms, repetitions, iterations and transformations. The sculptural quality is ever present as the triangular roofs dance gracefully above the natural landscape, connecting the existing house to the new pool house addition. Due to the legal regulations and the narrow plot of land, beautifully located above the beach of the Long Island sound, the new house needs to be an extension of the existing one. The legal requirement of the enclosed pathway connecting both structures is used to its full advantage, stretching the new building as a set of flying roofs, emerging into a larger volume as it culminates by the top of the ridge. The triangulated roofs insert themselves under and above the adjacent one, creating an angular wave, emerging from the floor with a grand diagonal stair and a large outdoor terrasse encasing the outdoor swimming pool. The trapezoidal plan is framed on both sides by two solid walls while in the direction of the sea, from the entry stairs to the outdoor terrace, the façade is entirely glazed. The composition feels dynamic as the triangular roofs express an unknown language of pure geometry, a tectonic rigor which would house a most pleasant pool house, connected between the natural landscape and the roofscape.

The project was developed in collaboration with the client: Helene Calle-Lin and Local Architecture.

Project:

Terrace Housing Overlooking the Caribbean

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Located on the south side of Antigua Island, perched on the hillside above Old Road village, the project offers fantastic views of the Caribbean seascape. The steep slope is carved into terrasses for the insertion of eight concrete volumes. The simple cubic volumes are duplexes with the entire face of the cube facing the sea glazed. A mezzanine above the double height living room offers a bedroom with a generous view. Each volume adjusts to the slight angle of the topography creating a repetition and variation, while the roofs of the lower volume become the framed terrasse of the next residence. The contrast between the dramatic natural topography and the artificial geometry of the rigorous repeated simple volumes generates a dialogue full of tensions and subtle adaptations.