The Neisser Residence by Tigerman McCurry Architects

The Neisser Residence by Tigerman McCurry Architects
The question of details -their absence and presence -crops up frequently as Stanley Tigerman, FAIA describes the voluptuously spare high-rise apartment he and partner Margaret McCurry, FAIA created for client Judith Neisser.

Indeed, in singling the project out in the interior architecture category, jurors praised its beauty, quality and "controlled simplicity of details."

The architects' differing design sensibilities proved singularly compatible in producing a space Tigerman characterizes as "deliberately empty, so you focus on the art."

Its contemporary openness is tempered by its classical proportions, possible in part because the 4,400-square-foot condominium boasts 12 1/2-foot ceilings, an unusually generous height.

The primary rooms are arranged enfilade--library, dining room, and living room all in a row--their internal doors aligned to display window views at each end.

The space's impact comes from a serene austerity, achieved in part by the relentless elimination of extraneous detail.

Flat, overscale wood baseboards, painted white to match the skim-coat plaster walls, are defined only by a precise 1/8-inch reveal where baseboard meets wall.

Precision also marks the recessed bookshelves in the library.

Their perimeters are etched with the same 1/8-inch reveal, their space is disciplined into