A Hong Kong-based businessman and father to a close-knit family of three adult children purchased this brownstone in Fort Greene’s landmarked district to house his family and secure a pied-a-terre for them all to stay together under one roof during his extended visits.
The family hired BFDO to help them create three duplexes and a private suite for him and his wife, which required the addition of three new stairs to connect the two floors in each unit and maintain a common access to the roof terrace, rear yard and cellar. The new stairs become sculptural and programmatic focal points in each unit, materially distinct elements that provide seating and storage around and under them. A deep blue color is used as an organizing thread throughout the common spaces as well as within the units.
The deep blue entry doors open into a foyer with a blue handrail that snakes up to the blue-fenced roof terrace. The blue reappears in the railing and stairs accessing the rear yard deck. (Barker Freeman Design Office)