Mark Gettys Transforms a Brooklyn Loft for Interior Designer Robert Stilin
The artist-turned-architect struck an elegant balance of cool, industrial heft, and warmth for the Red Hook residence that overlooks New York Harbor
To read Mark Gettys’s resume—prize-winning graduate of the Yale School of Architecture, stints at top-tier firms including Steven Harris Architects and Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, projects as plum as the Victoria & Albert Museum and Columbia Business School—is to suggest that he is a supremely talented architect. But to talk to him, it’s clear there is more to his story.
Indeed, the New York City-based Gettys was initially trained as an artist—and he still taps into the analog; he often sketches his ideas freehand to complement his 3-D designs. He credits his fine art background for the sophisticated use of form, light, and shadow in his work.
Gettys recently completed interior designer Robert Stilin’s 3,600 square-foot Red Hook, Brooklyn, loft overlooking New York Harbor, once a coal storage building known as the New York Dock building. Galerie wanted to know more.
Robert, what drew you to Mark’s work? What made you pick up the phone?
Robert Stilin: We met 10 or 12 years ago on a blind date! We stayed friends and would run into each other every now and then. A friend had hired Mark to turn an abandoned concrete shell in this same building into a home. So I called him up. And even though his work is more contemporary than what I was after, I knew it would work because I am comfortable with him as a person, his values, his work ethic. Plus, he worked at such great places and is highly educated.
Mark Gettys: It was a nice coincidence, actually. I always loved and respected Robert’s work. And I had already worked out so many of the challenges inherent in a building like this in my friend’s loft. At this point, I’ve now done three lofts in this building.
RS: Mark’s first iteration was very contemporary and we were able to talk and adapt it to please us both. There are modernist details like no baseboards, no moldings, streamlined door casings and jambs.
MG: There were growing pains for both of us. Robert has an incredible portfolio of work in the Hamptons and New York City, but this was an entirely different challenge. We had to reference industrial character and scale. It really pushed our aesthetics.
Mark, you love a raw industrial space. What are the advantages of starting with a shell like this? Disadvantages?
MG: Well, you have this rich history and character baked into a landmark building set on the Brooklyn waterfront. And it comes with features that are very desirable for a residence: generous daylight, high ceilings.
RS: The windows are extraordinary for a commercial-to-residential conversion. They are custom steel and glass and are far nicer than those in a lot of new luxury buildings. I always say that I feel like I live in an Andreas Gursky photograph. The windows frame the view.
MG: Previous to this project, I had completed a modern triplex penthouse on the Upper East Side that sits just below a 1930s water tower. It was the first time I dealt with a contemporary project interfacing with a historic structure. Working with this combination is tough because you have two buildings in one; you have to learn the intricacies of the old structure while creating a new one. The main challenge here was maintaining the raw industrial feeling while outfitting the space for modern living. We had to install all new mechanicals because a commercial layout is wildly different from a residential one. That meant drilling holes in the concrete slabs for plumbing, which forced me to be very meticulous about where I specified it. The ceiling, which is original cast-in-place concrete, had a bit of water damage that we remedied with a skim coat of cement. I wanted it to play well with the columns, which we left as they were, with painted numbers on them that denoted the structural grid lines of the building.
RS: I had to accept that some things wouldn’t be exactly as I wanted them. The ducting and electrical components are exposed, as they should be in an industrial space. But Mark deftly confined them to the bottom of what is a U-shaped space, where the butler’s pantry, laundry room and powder room are.
MG: The living space, one leg of the U, faces New York Harbor to the west, and the other, where the bedrooms look east, to all of Brooklyn. So, the sun rises and sets to the rhythm of Mark’s day.
There is a wonderful balance of cool, industrial heft and warm, organic weightlessness here: a steel door with a porthole, wood cabinetry with muscular bronze hardware, exposed pipes/ducts against a raw concrete ceiling. How did you strike this balance?
MG: As an architect, I wanted to lean into a purist industrial aesthetic, but I understand that concrete and steel can be too cool for a residential project. So we used fumed reclaimed pine for the millwork and metals like bronze or brass to complement the steel. All of the plumbing fixtures are bronze or brass. And we incorporated a patina finish on the industrial materials to give them a more refined, warmer character.
RS: I happen to love portholes, especially oversized ones, and use them a lot in my work to make a space feel alive and to bring light into it.
Mark, you attract clients with substantial art collections. As an artist yourself, you must bring a certain sensibility to your architecture that speaks to this side of yourself?
MG: As a painter, I did very large-scale figurative work in oil. I am still a fine artist. I have all the training and skills to be a painter. When I was younger, I didn’t have the skills to be an architect, but I was curious about architecture, so pivoted to it. But having made art myself, I have great respect for it. I appreciate art and architecture equally. These days, I appreciate the challenge of actually getting something built! It can be frustrating. Some days I am designing and thinking creatively, and other days I am thinking about how a structural system can work. But in the end, working with clients who have substantial art collections is ideal.
Designing for an art collector has parallels to designing a gallery. In Robert’s loft, I oriented the doors to be on side walls so as to optimize uninterrupted wall space. I also designed for art to be hung at the ends of the long hallways to provide an anchor and a focal point. Robert owns several oversize pieces that the loft space accommodates beautifully. We had to consider where the three large pieces in the loft space were going to go; putting them parallel to the windows allows for even distribution of daylight. Miraculously, the windows already had deep pockets surrounding them, which made it easy to install proper solar and blackout shades to protect the art. The windows are also UV protected.
I’ve worked with clients whose art collections are museum quality and laid out with one piece of art per wall with no furniture around it. It is very precious. What I appreciate about Robert is his eclectic collection and that he is more casual about it. He embraces it and lives with it.
Are there plans for any future collaborations?
RS: We’ve already worked together on my house in the Hamptons. I would work with Mark on any and all of my personal projects. I’d love to do a ground-up house with Mark. In contrast to what we did with my loft, I’d love to gut a turn-of-the-century townhouse and do a modernist/contemporary renovation. I like that Mark has very strong opinions and is not shy about them. But he is willing to work together. Many architects have the “my way or the highway” attitude.
MG: I am itching to do more ground-up work together. I find that the best residential work is done through collaboration between architect and designer. Right now, I am working on a 4,000-square-foot co-op on the Upper East Side. Interestingly enough, the client wants it to feel like a loft, similar to Robert’s. I think I have some solutions. It’s been pretty satisfying.