Central Park South Apartment

By Elisa Grossi - 2 April 2024

Auteur photographs and street art, walls covered with reproductions of pop art, iconic industrial design items and out-of-the-ordinary finishes all contribute to the dynamic interiors of this Manhattan apartment on the 21^st floor of a high rise in Central Park South. Designed by D’Aquino Monaco, the apartment covers the surface area of what were once five dwelling units. The owners, an Australian art-collector couple, wanted a second home in New York City, the world capital of contemporary art. Carl D’Aquino and Francine Monaco took their cue for the overall concept from the clients’ request for a space that would be a unique statement of the contemporary world, but which did not feel the current obligation to make use of natural materials like wood and marble. The resultant project is imbued with the bold unconventional spirit of the owners and fulfills the assignment to create an art gallery residence that also retains all the functionality of a home.

The entrance hall is the starting point of a sculptural path through the apartment – its decisive geometries downplayed by exuberant paintings by Matt Bilfield and Os Gemeos – created by infrastructure left in place when the five units were joined and completely re-configured. A white backdrop was chosen throughout to set off the artworks and design pieces selected for inclusion in the house but also to provide fresh luminous surfaces; the pearl-gray polyurethane flooring dialogues with the polished stainless-steel cladding of the columns, dematerializing their presence in space. The feeling of starting out on a journey is reenforced by the horseshoe configuration of the distribution circuit, with the day zone located at the opposite end of the house from the entrance and reached via a long fluid space whose walls display an art-gallery range of landscape photographs by Richard Mosse of increasing size as you gradually near the living zone in a crescendo of...