Loft vision

NZ-born architect David Howell’s vision for a disused Manhattan loft space earned a full-page feature in the New York Times. Located near Gramercy Park, the 35-by-20-foot rectangular space with 11-foot high ceilings dates from around 1900 and is currently being listed for US $775,000. Howell’s redesign for Halstead Property turns what “had been a bland, predictable arrangement … on its head”, using epoxied concrete flooring and a continuous roll of dark-stained oak planks starting at the windows and covering the walls and floor, creating a shuttered effect. “To insert a continuous object is smoother and sleeker than to break the space up into pieces,” he explains. David Howell first travelled to the US in 1992 on a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council Grant. He now oversees a staff of 14 at his office on Union Square.