Frederick Tang Architecture has completed the renovation and interior design of a 2,500-square-foot, 13th-floor apartment in Brooklyn?s Turner Towers, a grand pre-war, art deco building dating to 1926. Located on Eastern Parkway, the apartment overlooks both The Brooklyn Museum and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Designed for a couple who work in the arts and their two children, the renovation balances reverence for the apartment?s history with contemporary, custom details inspired by the family?s artistic sensibility and casual lifestyle.

Description
The project began by reconfiguring the original layout to open up the home and centralize the kitchen. ?We had to make this apartment work for a modern family,? says Frederick Tang, principal of Frederick Tang Architecture. While boasting generously proportioned living areas and tall ceilings typical of classic prewar apartments, the original kitchen was cramped, penned in by walls on all sides, and bordered by two small rooms originally designed as staff quarters. The firm relocated the kitchen to the apartment?s core, opening it up on two sides and connecting it to the dining area via a black soapstone bar with custom cabinetry in white lacquer. ?The owners are passionate about cooking and entertaining so they wanted to make sure they could create a large kitchen space that would allow them to socialize with their guests,? says Tang. Adjacent to the new kitchen, the original small staff rooms were reshaped int...