Architectural Record: Clinton Hill Kitchen & Bath

Excerpt from Architectural Record magazine January 2022

From the outside, this 1895 landmarked house in Brooklyn, New York, blends with the row of classic brownstones in which it resides. But the richly hued interior —the result of a renovation by architect Michael K. Chen and his firm, MKCA— distinguishes this residence from the others on the block. The four-story house had been abandoned for more than 20 years, and its existing dilapidated walls, plaster ornamentation, and woodwork bore peeling lead paint that hinted of bold shades from turquoise to raspberry. Intriguing both client and archi- tect, this extant palette provided the inspiration for a richly varied scheme that uses color to delineate the kitchen and bath spaces, as well as all the communal zones.

The resulting visual feast isn’t immediately apparent upon entering the ground floor, a step down from grade. Chen knocked down walls and realigned the kitchen, which originally flanked a corridor, to establish open sight lines from the front to the back and create a wider floor plan flowing from kitchen to dining and lounge areas and then out to a rear garden. Just beyond the front door, the design team created a millwork volume, painted an oxblood red, that houses a largely black bathroom in which even the toilet, electric outlet, and ceiling blend into the room’s obsidian-hued wall tiles. “We felt that black at the ground-floor entrance would create a welcome moment of transition before the color eruption to come,” says Chen.