When Ryan Brooke Thomas, principal of Kalos Eidos, set out to design her Forte Greene apartment, she did so with a dual eye for creating continuity throughout the space and for strategic inclusion of storage. “It’s about how it all stitches together in a way that feels continuous and like a whole,” she says of the design. “That was the goal of the project, and it’s something that, living here, I see as a success of the project.”
When Ryan bought the apartment, its inside was broken up into smaller spaces. Upon seeing it she was immediately drawn to the natural light that came in through all sides of the apartment, which she wanted to maximize. “In spite of the small footprint, I saw an opportunity to open it up, to try to optimize the fact that there was natural light coming in from all sides,” she says. “How do you make those sources of light really feel connected to the space, instead of having something that’s broken up into tiny rooms? Open up the footprint as much as possible.”
“Now that the renovation is completed, impressions of the apartment center around that natural light, and the way it plays with the apartment’s modern, clean aesthetic, while also managing to be completely cozy and welcoming. Sleek floor-to-ceiling cabinetry in the kitchen and dining areas draw the eyes upward, making full use of vertical space inside the home. True to Ryan’s goals, the apartment has an overall feeling of cohesion both within the open kitchen, living, and dining spaces, and in the bedroom and bathrooms, which function very much as part of the whole.