When LOT-EK was tapped to renovate a 1930s Brooklyn carriage house, the clients encouraged the architecture firm to go big and bold—never mind the resale value. In response, the architects slotted a bright orange shipping container ‘tower’ into the heart of the home, injecting vibrant new life into the historic structure. Despite the unconventional combination, the daring design works surprising well, adding an artistic but not overbearing touch to the New York neighborhood.
Artist Markus Linnenbrink and his wife, gallerist Cindy Rucker, commissioned LOT-EK to renovate the existing two-level carriage and to add a penthouse above. “We thought a lot about what we wanted from this house and how to make this our house,” they told New York Magazine. The single-family home, called the Irving Place Carriage House, eschews the typical house design with its cargotecture addition and with the rejection of bathroom tiles and marble counters for more unusual elements like the kitchen backsplash made from end-grain wood chips.
In contrast to the shipping container’s vibrant orange shade, the facade is painted in alternating diagonal bands of pale gray and black. “It echoes the same stripe design of the container ‘tower’ inside,” said LOT-EK principal Giuseppe Lignano. The tangerine ‘tower’ houses the kitchen, bathrooms, mechanical space, and the stairs and is framed by walls tinted orange, while the other walls of the home are painted white. The orange vertical volume extends from the ground to a roof that’s topped by a penthouse made from four repurposed shipping containers, also painted in an orange shade.
