A jet-setter’s condo unit becomes a social hub for relaxed entertaining

When it comes to residential design solutions, Yorkville Design Centre does double duty, acting as both a retail showroom for Downsview Kitchens and a comprehensive architecture and interior design studio. The benefits of this combined expertise are on full display in a recent penthouse designed for a globe-trotting executive, which integrates an expertly proportioned kitchen into a suave and sophisticated space.

When Yorkville Design Centre was hired, the penthouse unit’s layout presented a key challenge, with many sharp angles creating awkward room shapes. To remedy this, architect and YDC owner Thomas Tampold took down several walls to create an open environment more conducive to spirited cocktail parties. The client’s love of entertaining also inspired a partial wall that now separates the kitchen from the living room, introducing a horizontal void that’s a perfect pass-through for drink transfers and free-flowing conversations between dinner guests and their host.

For his next move, Tampold introduced geometric floating ceilings that divide the apartment’s otherwise expansive social area into distinct zones while concealing the elements above. “One of the beautiful things about working in a penthouse is that the ceilings are higher,” says Tampold. “But the tricky side is that there was a lot of structure up there to support the mechanical equipment.”

Tampold also capitalized on a prominent beam that runs along the edge of the living room, intersecting it with a sculptural corner shelving unit. “It’s this combination of forms that makes the home into art,” says Tampold. “That’s how you make things beautiful.”

Continuing this embrace of geometric design, the television and fireplace are both integrated into a bent metal wall feature that’s dramatically lit by glowing strips installed in a small reveal between the steel and the wall behind it. This compositional device effectively positions the TV and the fireplace on two separate sightlines, all the while complementing the space’s other 45-degree angles. “That way the TV becomes more of an intimate thing that you watch with just a significant other or a friend, rather than being the big focus of the party,” Tampold says.

Another big conversation hub is the home’s kitchen, which comfortably seats five. Throughout the cooking space, walnut wood cabinetry is joined by sleek matte grey uppers to give the project a sophisticated and unique identity that departs from the all-white style that’s typical of other modern spaces. “The client loved that he hadn’t seen those finishes in a kitchen before,” says Tampold. Chosen from the many finish samples available in Yorkville Design Centre’s showroom, the selections are a testament to YDC’s commitment to designing spaces that reflect the identities of their clients. “Sometimes we start with a client’s painting that they say they love,” says Tampold. “And we start to unpack, okay, what is it that they love about the colours of that?”

For the penthouse finishing touches, Tampold and Yorkville Design Centre interior designer David Neff worked with Nancy Regier of RDNA design studio, which led furnishing selections for the condo design that include a statement-making striped Gaetano Pesce armchair. Meanwhile, Igne Ferro facilitated the custom fireplace design and installation, and artist Sue Ennis contributed a number of the space’s striking abstract canvases.

Yorkville Design Centre has a knack for successful collaboration — whether working with another architecture or interior design firm to focus entirely on kitchen design, or leading the design of a full home, Tampold and Neff know how to translate a client’s personality and taste into a refined artistic outcome.

This content was prepared by Designlines on behalf of Yorkville Design Centre. yorkvilledesigncentre.ca