Architecture by GRT Architects
Photography by Nicole Franzen
Brooklyn, NY
“Life has to do with walls; we're continuously going in and out, back and forth, and through them. A wall is the quickest, the thinnest, the element we're always transgressing… The wall heightens the sense of passage, and by the same token, its thinness heightens the sense of being just a momentary condition…what I call the moment of the present.” - John Heyduk
How to heighten awareness as you move from one activity to the next seems to be on the minds of Rustam-Marc Mehta and Tal Schori of GRT Architects. Much has been said in previous articles about the stair and the fresh use of color, but what I would like to focus on is the the use of the line. The lines that cut through rooms in this townhouse are not just a whimsical feature but a visual device that establishes an imaginary plane. And it is through this plane that you are transgressing from one activity to the other. From laying down to standing, from taking a bath to brushing your teeth. This plane, even thinner than a wall, intends to heighten your sense of being, and create a moment in the present.
This architecture project reads as a study in control: openings are disciplined, surfaces are restrained, and the sequence from room to room is carried by proportion rather than decoration. Doors and thresholds feel intentionally framed, and the transitions between circulation and dwelling zones are legible without becoming theatrical.
Daylight is treated as a material in its own right. Window placement and mullion geometry distribute light in a way that clarifies depth, edge conditions, and the thickness of wall planes. Brightness is allowed to shift through the day, so the interior can move from crisp definition to softer tonal continuity.
Tags: GRT Architects, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
