How They Pulled It Off: A Twisty, Floating Staircase for a 14-Foot Ceiling

Welcome to How They Pulled It Off, where we take a close look at one particularly challenging aspect of a home design and get the nitty-gritty details about how it became a reality.

Hiding in plain sight in Greenpoint, Brooklyn—a neighborhood known for its railroad-style apartments and recently developed high-rise buildings—is a ground-level maisonette with a winding floating staircase. In terms of New York City apartments, this two-bedroom is a unicorn with a lofty, 14-foot-high ceiling and a private terrace with its own entrance. It’s the only unit of its kind in a six-floor residential building. 

INC Architecture & Design, the firm that designed 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge and the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport (among other architectural landmarks), handled every creative aspect of this property. "It was exciting for us as we don’t often get approached for a project like this," says Drew Stuart, INC cofounder and Construction & Development Director. "We took on the entire scope as executive architect, design architect, and interior designer for all the units."

For the ground floor unit, which is considered a retail-level space, INC saw an opportunity to create an elegant staircase that works with the large, windowed patio doors. (A legitimate retail space requires at least 14-foot-high ceilings; this ceiling line strikes all the way through to the back where the apartment is located. A bank occupies the front-facing retail space.)