This project, at The Ayer building on Washington Square, Philadelphia, combined one of the four penthouse units in the building with the unit below it to create a four-level city home.
We were brought to the project in the very beginning by the interior designer. The Utley’s hired us to provide a dual layer of motorized shades in 27 windows throughout the residence, and a motorized Ripplefold drapery in the Master Bedroom to cover the interior floor-to-ceiling glass wall that overlooked the living room. The design also included our programming of the automation system to control all window treatments and lights.
The challenge for us had to do with maintaining the architectural integrity of the arched windows in the main living area while creating hidden pockets in which the shades would disappear… the same way they do in the rectangular windows in the remainder of the house.
We created a design to have the contractors build out the walls to create space. We specified wood blocking for the ceiling of the pocket, pattern scribed templates for all of the windows, and made plywood arches to fit in with the first layer of drywall.
After the plywood and drywall were installed, the finished layer of drywall followed. This process afforded the ability for the shades to drop out from within the wall, keeping the architecture intact.
Similar pockets were designed throughout the home and soffits were designed and built to house pockets where necessary.
This provided a clean consistent contemporary look throughout the home.
After all window treatments were installed and the rest of the home's finish work was done, we worked closely with the Utley's to custom design the automated control.
The photos below show the detailed process of the arches. Our PROJECT PAGE shows the end result.
