Eric Liftin founded MESH Architectures in 1997 as a hybrid architectural practice in both the physical and virtual realms. MESH designs mostly architecture, including buildings, homes, offices, retail spaces, and art installations. With the conviction that they are also habitable spaces, we also design Web sites and integrate them into architecture, reconceiving relationships between people and their environments in the age of the digital network.
The firm is always exploring new materials and technologies. In New York, where many projects are renovations, MESH has successfully integrated contemporary materials and techniques into old structures without erasing the older construction. The firm has established a reputation for luminous spaces with new translucent materials.
Along with innovative design goes a dedication to a client-oriented process. Successful projects are always the result of a fruitful collaboration of the client’s desires and the architect’s ingenuity. We put attention to our client’s requirements before style partisanship. This leads to innovative solutions that satisfy the body, spirit, and budget while pleasing the eye.
Residential projects incorporate new concepts for living spaces, which are like microcosmic urban spaces, a setting for activities and events ranging from solitary meditation to family breakfast to work meetings. We see the connected areas of the home as a stimulating environment for personal and interpersonal exploration and growth.
Gallery
Horatio Street Atrium House: This house began as a one-story workshop that occupied the entire 22’x100’ site. According to NYC zoning regulations, if we don’t enlarge the house, we need not comply with typical residential requirements such as a 30’ rear yard. Thus we got to build something very unusual for New York: an atrium house, built around a courtyard. Both living space and bedroom suite (bedroom and bath) open completely to the outside. Photo: Jason Schmidt Greenwich Street Loft: The familiar story: an old warehouse space becomes a home. A media wall slices through on the diagonal, connecting front to back while opening the central space to western views. Paneled in fiberglass-plastic, the wall lights up like a lightbox or glows warmly. An opening in the wall allows an library cube on casters to emerge or act as a projection device. Photo: Frank Oudeman Vertical Loft House: Owners who wanted a loft bought a Victorian-style Park Slope house. The challenge was to open the house to space and light without neutering its character. This is accomplished with two related gestures: First, open the parlor floor as a large open space for family living. Then open a zone through the middle of the house that ascends to a large skylight, to bring light down and animate the central circulation. Photo: Frank Oudeman Mercer Street “Density” Loft: This loft renovation provides a dynamic downtown environment for a former upper-east-sider. There are three major elements, inserted into the vast space: the (grown) children’s rooms, for when they stay here; the kitchen, seldom used but significantl and the master suite, a multi-story, dense, layered sequence of rooms. The mezzanine, catwalks, and massive bookshelf-wall are glass, in a light steel frame suspended from the ceiling. This creates the effect of a hovering, slivery presence. Photo: Frank Oudeman Downtown Duplex: The duplex loft starts from the concept of a loft as a microcosmic urban space, an oversized setting for activities and events. By creating loosely connected zones with varied environments, the home becomes a dynamic setting for exploration and concentration. Small LCD screens throughout the space provide access to the Home Operating System, a web-based home control system. This home, without exterior views, becomes at once an inwardly focused sanctuary and a place for creation and connection. Photo: Andrew Bordwin Mott Street Loft: The New York loft problem is a formidable design excercise. How many ways exist to program a loft for discrete activities without turning it into an apartment? MESH laterally divided the rectangular space into zones, putting public spaces in the front and private space in back. The space in between, though, is in constant flux. It is a library whose shelves can open completely or close to become a den, thus modulating the entire scheme. Photo: Frank Oudeman Park Slope Rec Room: It was a common brownstone cellar: dirt floor and 6′ headroom, with pipes and conduit tangled throughout. After underpinning and excavation we liberated a new habitable floor for a newly expanded family. Bright colors in the cabinetry, linoleum floor, and lightbox make up for the lack of regular windows, although the old coal chute, converted into a skylight, admits natural sunlight. Eldridge Street Roof: A complete roof-deck makeover combines views and privacy in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. A cantilevered steel stair, sheltered in a wood planked bulkhead connects the original apartment to the deck. Finished in sustainably harvested ipe, the deck environment integrates plantings, outdoor showering, and dining areas as well as concealed storage. The deck terminates at its north end in a screen of blue-grey concrete fiber board underscoring views on the city skyline. Lightbox Loft: As always the charge is to maintain open loft space while creating discrete, programmed rooms. The major architectural gesture is to divide the private suite from the main space with a long, bamboo-ply-clad wall. This wall contains infrastructure, storage, and part of the kitchen. The box is perceptually defined by a series of long, thin lightboxes that encircle it. They are illuminated by programmed LED lights, which animate the space in time and generate a variety of ambiances. Photo: Frank Oudeman Art Dealer’s Studio: 300 square feet top-floor studio built in the 1970’s transformed into a minimalist space with an emphasis on craftsmanship. MESH designed a complete renovation, preserving its garrett-like identity and adding custom designed storage solution to enlarge the living area. The flooring is reclaimed lumber from an NYC industrial building. View ApartmentTherapy house tour. Horatio Street Loft: A loft in the West Village transforms an old stable into a unique living space. Almost a square, the entire loft was designed around a media library seen here as a transluscent cube. This intimate library space serves to contrast and balance the capaciousness of the loft. Photo: Eric Lifting
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