A cube in a cube in a cube. That’s the idea for the multitasking, multicolored desk-slash-closet-slash-guest room that Leven Betts Studio designed for client Hilary Park. “She was a math major at Princeton,” says architect David Leven. “The first time I met her years ago, she was doing proofs on a big blackboard in her loft for fun.” Back then, Park had just purchased this 1,800-square-foot one-bedroom loft, almost square in plan, in an almost cubic building in Williamsburg. Leven and his partner, Stella Betts, made her an acrylic-topped table. Park, who works in finance by day and makes art in her free time, called them last year with a bigger design problem. “She paints and sews, and she needed a studio,” Leven says. “She also needed a guest room. We were kicking things back and forth and we arrived at the cube.” The couple has designed super-functional cabinetry before, but never with so much … color. “She has a much more eclectic palette than we do,” Leven says. “It is in her living space with her purple couch, orange chairs, and a Balinese screen.”
1. The orange Piolite stripe that runs around the wall is a visual separator, explains architect David Leven. It “defines the zone of little tiny things” that his client uses in her art and sewing.
2. A pullout ledge made of red Formica is Park’s sewing table. Small drawers hold thread, buttons, and other notions, while a large cabinet below stores her sewing machine.
3. Behind the white panels is clothing storage.
1. A bookshelf in green Acrilex separates the work space from the dining area.
2. The loft bed reached by a ladder behind the bookcase makes the unit function as Park’s “guest room.”
3. Pink pullout cabinets made of frosted acrylic layered over red Formica hold Park’s paintings and other art supplies. All doors and drawers were fabricated by Just Plastics and Sandkamp. Raphael Ben Yehuda at Cuadro Interiors was the contractor. The overhead panels were made by Hafele.