[All images courtesy MAD; Photos are by Ty Cole]
On a tree-lined Upper East Side street, Matiz Architecture & Design (MAD) have expanded a five-story townhouse into a seven-story building serving NY Neurological Associates. Like many Manhattan renovations, the building is like a mullet: business in the front, party in the back.
What is going on with the rear addition is visible from the street on the top-floor addition: patina-copper panels extend back and down the building, an L-shaped wrapper over and behind the brick-and-stone existing building.
The copper panels give MAD's design its most striking characteristic, but of course it's not the only story. The horizontal windows set into the deep-profile, copper wall provide plenty of sunlight (this elevation faces south) for the various rooms.
Nevertheless I'm drawn to the copper skin, the way the patina is subtly but noticeably irregular, evident in these photos, particularly the close-up below.
The interior is a simple palette of drywall and wood. I especially like the cutouts in the surfaces, be it the lights, skylights, or the magazine racks with their sloped fronts. Only in New York would a waiting room be squeezed into a hallway!
Last but not least, the design provides three outdoor terraces: one is located in the rear yard, above a lower level; the other two are atop the building, one facing north and one facing south (photo below). Spaces like this are a wonderful amenity in Manhattan.
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