This contemporary house was imagined for a philanthropic family that hosts events, in support of various charities. Familiar with a traditional design style, the client sought to redefine their sensibilities toward a bolder contemporary expression.

One challenge was to maintain a level of warmth and comfort with or without guests. When moving between rooms, fluidity is revealed through a harmonizing palette of natural woods, quarried stone, and soft textures. Understated tones are countered with dramatic sightlines that lead toward works of art, and custom finishes give each room its own mood.

The entryway features a minimalist fireplace clad in the same French limestone used on the hallway floors. The stone base moulding is eye-catching, with a pregnant curve integrated into its profile. Fourteen-foot portal doorways lead to the great room where groupings of furnishings allow for intimate gatherings. Warmth is felt in the cashmere-covered walls and a silk-thread custom design rug. The carpet reveals a tonal shift from silver to deep charcoal at the edges. While the great room is intended for sophisticated entertaining, any undue formality is loosened with stacks of wooden logs beside the hearth.

A secondary entrance leads to a solarium. Providing a seating area for arriving guests, this room is curated with limited-edition furnishings sharing space with 20th-century works of art. It is among the most artistically expressive rooms and speaks to the trust the clients had in developing a new visual language. To inspire their understanding of contemporary design and art, the designer travelled with his clients to visit galleries specialized in functional art objects.

Adjacent to the solarium is a dining room with padded silk walls that help to dampen ambient sounds. Rather than a chandelier serving as the focal point, the designer chose to turn the gaze toward two adjacent features, one being a set of custom-made cast glass doors which separate the dining room from the solarium. When closed at night, the doors create a lantern effect, and provide a theatrical moment.

The other feature visible from the dining room is a stone staircase that spirals between three floors. Its sinuous curves are countered by a 30 feet, cut-glass pendant light that hangs from the ceiling. The vision was realized in collaboration with a lighting designer who developed the light’s bijou presence by adopting a gemstone cutting technique customarily used by jewelers. The craftsmanship behind each piece of convex glass enables the fixture to cast dazzling patterns of refracted light.

Natural wood, black-stained Baltic pine and marble found in other areas of the home reappear. Private realms are found on each floor, including a wine cellar, indoor pool, family room and a principal bedroom.

Every room expresses the firm’s commitment to detail, composition and beauty. The result is a powerful visual statement that is also highly functional.