PRESERVING THE INVISIBLE:
An architect’s residence in Elmwood Village
By Maria Scrivani
Photography by kc kratt
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A gas fireplace and other homey touches warm up this ultra-contemporary urban abode.
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This guestroom module can be rolled one way to disappear or rolled the other way to provide more space.
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The infrastructure wall houses all heating, cooling and waste transfer apparatus, eliminating the necessity for any floor space connections. The result is a clean, unobstructed space that remains true to the original building design, an uncommon approach to preservation that informs the architectural aesthetic of Hadighi, who chairs the architecture department of the State University of New York at Buffalo.
“Much of what we did is invisible, the opposite of most preservation projects,” says Hadighi, who joined the UB faculty in 1994. He recalls asking a realtor to find him a loft in the city, and was being shown a space that was “about as loft-like as you could get in Buffalo.” Originally constructed as some kind of factory, the freespan brick masonry building had no supporting walls or columns in the middle. Sometime in the 1930s, the structure was converted in part to residential use, with the first floor left as commercial space. Hadighi was determined to preserve the original construction, with adaptations for modern living comfort.
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The kitchen is both handsome and efficient.
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A detail of the downstairs office.
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A child’s bedroom also provides modular storage.
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“I think more in relation to space, and the sensibility of space within the construction methods of the time,” he explains. For his new home in Buffalo, the choice was to restore the structure of the building, which meant patching all the holes and cuts made to accommodate residential living needs when the place was first reconfigured. Removing all the added-on infrastructure led to the invention of a new way to house necessary accoutrements: hence, the black wall.
“Nothing interferes with the floor,” says Hadighi, showing the open floor plan on the second and third floor living spaces. (He still maintains a research office on the first floor, which has remained intact as original open space.) No doors or dividing walls break up the space. “Everything is cantilevered, lifted,” he notes, including the toilet, which is attached to the wall, and the cantilevered vanity—look, Ma, no plumbing apparatus.
Using industrial materials as design elements gives the place a distinctly modern feel, even as the best original features like the big windows and wood floors were retained. Added to an original brick flue is a Hadighi-designed gas fireplace constructed of concrete—old and new melding to arresting effect.
The bathrooms are actually made of welded one-piece stainless steel (monocoque is the term for such construction), making them appear somewhat like airplane toilets, but much roomier. An added benefit is mildew-imperviousness. A child’s bedroom is an ingenious unit on wheels, bed tucked neatly into modular storage units, like a giant metal Lego set. Behind this structure sits a simple sofa, with a pullout bed that slides out from under the child’s bed. Voila, instant guest bedroom.
The stainless-steel kitchen adjoins floor-to-almost-ceiling built-in cupboards crafted of medium-density fibreboard, with frosted-glass doors. A subtle glow emanates from recessed lighting above and below, enough light for a midnight raid on the refrigerator. Aircraft-grade aluminum was used to make a sturdy but airy dining table.
“Everything is robust,” he says.
It is also unique: a cleanly contemporary home that is historically honest.
Writer Maria Scrivani is a native of Buffalo with an interest in local history and people who make a difference.
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