Design Bureau
Design Bureau Magazine
The Interiors Issue
August 2013
United States
DESCRIPTION
SPACE ODYSSEY: A CLASSIC FILM IS THE MUSE FOR AN ARCHITECT’S…
Project: Carved Duplex
By: Amanda Koellner
Inspiration can come in strange forms. Architect Alex Gil of SPACECUTTER was struck by the abstract black block featured in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which drove him to design the massive “Monolith” table that anchors the open dining area in his newly redesigned townhouse in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. “In the movie, it’s this black abstract thing with incredible presence, and you just don’t know what it is. It appears [to be] floating in space,” says Gil. “For the Monolith Table, I wanted to consider the table and chairs as one eroded form that is likewise abstract. When the four chairs, two benches and two end booths are all tucked in you aren’t sure what it is. It’s a large, unknowable object that elicits a psychological reaction.”
Made of whitewashed red cedar, the 11-foot-long table looms large in the open, minimalist space, which was gutted along with the rest of the third floor and redesigned by Gil. The renovation also included a new fourth-floor addition, which features a living room and outdoor deck. Contrasting elements include the black bedroom, gray-stained, wax-finished oak floors…
