Economy, functionality and privacy were the primary drivers in the design of this sixth floor home office studio.

Meticulously detailed millwork provides ample storage, making this small-footprint apartment extremely efficient.

A bedroom loft creates space for a roomy walk-in closet below, while stair risers conceal a series of built-in drawers. Every inch of the space has been effectively exploited.

JPDA worked closely with the client and a demanding co-op board through every stage of the design process. The result is modern, clean, and concise, providing both the warmth of a home and all the functional requirements of an office.

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After five years of happily living in a warehouse loft in Brooklyn’s then fringe Dumbo neighborhood, architect Jordan Parnass and his wife Melanie Crean decided that it was time to look for a new home in which to put down roots and raise a family.

The criteria was simple: bedrooms for kids and guests; a cook’s kitchen; studio space and video projection for multimedia artist Melanie; and outdoor space in which to garden and entertain. Unfortunately, the couple soon found that their sun-drenched open-plan loft lifestyle was not going to be easily shoehorned into the typical Brownstone Brooklyn housing stock.

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The classic challenge of the studio apartment - how to separate the sleeping area from the living space - is solved via a custom-fabricated millwork insertion.

Incorporating space for a queen bed, as well as cabinets, an integrated ladder, deep storage below, and books and display shelving on the side, the unit functions as an elegant room divider furniture piece.

The unit was pre-fabricated off site and required only a day for assembly and installation.

Ten years after selling his house in the suburbs and buying a city townhouse, the client decided it was time to tame his overgrown backyard and expand the living and entertaining space in his owner's duplex.

The twist - the client was on the cusp of the urban farming movement, and the yard would also be home to tomatoes, grape vines, and a flock of hens.

JPDA worked closely with the client to create a solution that would provide an elegant and low-maintenance growing environment, as well as a new deck and three-season porch over a glass-walled addition below.

Replacing a crumbling driveway bridge was the genesis for a series of interventions to create additional living space in this unusual multi-level suburban home.

Reworking the street entrance allowed space formerly used for the garage to be reclaimed and turned into a guest suite.

A simplified roof line and updated window fenestration brings cohesiveness to a complex arrangement of living spaces which cascade down the side of the wooded site.

This modest 1920's Dutch Colonial had seen very little work since the Carter administration. A complete renovation to accomodate the client's young family would include a modern kitchen, reworking bedrooms, finishing the basement, and adding space for additional bathrooms, a family room and study.

Taking advantage of tax credits for increasing energy efficiency, the entire house was gutted and re-insulated, reclad and upgraded with new windows, electric, HVAC, plumbing and radiant heating.

In order to accommodate the expanded program a contextual addition was designed to both blend harmoniously with the existing structure, and to maximize the buildable area within the stringent local zoning and building regulations.

Reflecting its transitional South Brooklyn neighborhood surroundings, this derelict two-family townhouse charmed with an eclectic mosaic of original details peeking out through layers of quirky patchwork and decay.

Working with the artist client and his filmmaker wife, JPDA developed a design sensibility which would juxtapose renovation, restoration and modern insertions alongside isolated moments of a preserved "texture of decay." The history of the house would be foregrounded in the combination of old, new, gritty and polished.

Combining a split-level cedar deck, extensive use of glass, and an inhabitable roof, every opportunity has been made to allow this house to frame and engage the natural beauty of the Canadian Laurentian mountains.

Located in the countryside East of Montreal, this house was designed as a prototype - the first of a series to be built for under $100,000, using conventional construction materials and techniques.

A common circulation spine links all the programmed spaces; beginning on the ground level, concrete and steel runs through the living room, up past the bedrooms, and then emerges beyond the second floor as a cantilevered exterior stair.

A rooftop viewing platform incorporates an outdoor shower and sundeck.