Flatiron Triplex Balances Elegance with Comfort

Architect David Howell and interior designer Steffani Aarons have reimagined a Flatiron District penthouse for a young New York family, reports Pilar Viladas in Introspective, the magazine of the design marketplace 1stDibs.

The apartment occupies the entire 18th and 19th floors of the building along with most of the 17th, offering impressive south-facing views of Manhattan. The design process, Howell says, offers “a huge opportunity to find things you wouldn’t envision at the beginning. Why not look at something surprising?”

“It is exactly these sorts of surprises, along with the rich variety of Aarons’s choices of materials and finishes, that allow the apartment’s design to blend physical comfort with sensual variety.” Wtires Viladas.

Introspective notes that the New York firm DHD Architecture and Interior Design, which was founded by the architect and New Zealander David Howell in 1995, has created numerous interiors for apartments, houses and townhouses, as well as designing new-build freestanding homes, apartment buildings, hotels and commercial and retail projects, in the U.S. and internationally. The firm’s style is both elegantly contemporary and comfortably welcoming, with plenty of texture, luxurious finishes and artisanal materials, furnishings, and accessories.

Photo by David Mitchell