What's Old Is New

What's Old Is New

MESH Architectures Restores a Historic Harlem House with Modern Fixtures

By Stef Schwalb

Harlem, New York, is full of rich history, some of which can be discovered in its architecture. Take for example the divided, three-family dwelling that Brooklyn-based MESH Architectures was tasked with restoring into a single-family home for a family of six. The project involved salvaging the original antique woodwork (doors, fireplaces, windows, and stairs); extensive repairs; adding in transitional modern elements where suitable; and bringing the dwelling up to passive-house standards, a set of requirements essentially aimed at using as little energy as possible. The home took five years to complete, and in the end, it was well worth the wait. We spoke with Eric Liftin, principal, MESH Architectures, for some illuminating insights on the process.

With a dwelling like this, location and history have a significant influence on design choice, and when the clients came to Liftin and his team, it was apparent the project would entail extensive work. “The house was in terrible shape when they bought it. It had been broken up into two apartments, and they had done a quick and dirty renovation to make it usable for their family,” he says. “They really appreciated the history of the house and wanted to preserve it as much possible, and they also wanted to do a passive house.” So the goal was to make the home mindful of the original details, Liftin adds, while simultaneously making it feel fresh, spacious, contemporary, elegant, and able to accommodate their clients’ needs as a modern family.

While the team at MESH Architectures are not preservation-oriented architects specifically, Liftin notes that they do appreciate maintaining older details to a house because that's something they are used to dealing with. “We like the idea of mixing [older details] with newer ones that are modern rather than replacing them,” he says. “It’s a good aesthetic match.” And although this home is a historic property, the choice of lighting and corresponding fixtures didn’t impact Liftin and his team much compared to other projects they have worked on, since it was already being developed as a low-energy building. “It’s not that different because we’ve been using all LED lighting for more than ten years now, so we’re used to doing that. At this point, everyone does. It’s just become the standard,” he explains. “It’s essentially making your lighting as efficient as possible, so that’s certainly what we see in the house. There may be some lights that are more efficient than others, but it’s very marginal.”

However, because the goal was to maintain older aspects of the house while bringing in modern elements, the lighting fixtures did result in an interesting design dynamic for Liftin and his team. “There were certainly no existing lights worth keeping—that was never a thing we were going to do,” he notes. “If you look at the home, the lighting is actually fairly modern. It literally lightens the feel of the house to have a much more minimal form of modern lighting versus what you might see in something older.” But, Liftin adds, the design styles do still vary throughout, citing the fixture in the library as an example of one that looks like a contemporary version of a small, older chandelier. “So some of the fixtures appear to be updated versions of older lights,” he says, “while others are just unapologetically modern light fixtures.” The one thing they didn't do is actually use a lot of literally old fixtures. A peek at the entrance light serves as one case in point. “That’s a modern fixture,” he says, “but it looks like it's in dialogue with lights of the past.”

As far as the role lighting plays in Liftin’s design process, it’s something that his firm has paid a lot of attention to for a long time. “It’s just instinctively a very important part of the whole design process because, although sunlight is great, a lot of the time we spend at home is at night—so it’s very important that people feel comfortable and relaxed in their environment. That means you don’t want the light to be too harsh or uneven,” he explains. One common mistake people make when selecting lighting is they think they can throw light into a space, it will bounce around, and find its equilibrium. “But of course, it’s much better if you know what you’re pointing the light at and what you’re actually lighting,” he concludes. “Then you can have more control over the way a space feels. Lighting walls, lighting objects—it’s a way of preventing that sense of just having a bright spot in the middle of a room and then everything else kind of falls off the shadows on the edges.” ■

So the goal was to make the home mindful of the original details, Liftin adds, while simultaneously making it feel fresh, spacious, contemporary, elegant, and able to accommodate their clients’ needs as a modern family.