43rd Street Townhouse
Chevy Chase DC

This started with a truly ordinary Developer Colonial townhouse condo whose amorphic floor plan featured small rooms with a variety of ad hoc boxy intrusions for stairs, fireplace, powder room and HVAC chases — not ideal for display of the client’s considerable collection of art glass.

As much as possible was erased. In the short direction, the dividing line between kitchen and dining room was removed and one large loft-like space was created. The architects chose the simple strategy of “connecting the dots” of the unmovable bumps to create continuous curving lines along the opposing long walls. These fluid edges are defined by stud and drywall shelves for the display of the glass and by lit soffits above. Front and back walls and windows could not be altered.

The vibrant colors of the art can now pop in the clean white space.