Integrating Tech Into Stylish, Minimalist Interiors — Unobtrusively

When New York City–based equities trader Laurence Cohen purchased one of the three floor-through units in Obsidian House, he also heeded signs to treat the new home as a blank canvas. The 38-year-old had spent the previous decade in a low-ceilinged postwar apartment building in Greenwich Village, and Obsidian House’s Tribeca location, history of innovation (it was one of the first cast-iron buildings in the city and recently daringly modernized by WORKac) and soaring interiors all suggested putting his existing furniture into storage.

Cohen residence; photos by Julia Rexon / Architizer

One of Cohen’s first selections for this tabula rasa was the Sony 4K Ultra Short Throw Projector, which projects images from broadcast television, Netflix and other sources directly onto a wall from an unobtrusive system of freestanding modules. The product had won an Architizer A+Award the first year it was released (2015), and it immediately seduced Cohen, as well. He experienced the combination of short-range projection and 4k imaging on a research trip to the New York flagship of ddc and remembers how its maximum image size of 147 inches captured his attention in the showroom immediately. These dimensions were perfectly suited to his future loft space, which would otherwise dwarf a more standard-issue 54- or even 70-inch flat-screen television.

Cohen residence

Designs for Cohen residence; Renderings by Decorilla

Cohen did not commit to the product at first sight. Rather, he commissioned Joyce Elizabeth Tranchida of Decorilla to weigh that specific decision and to fit out the WORKac interior generally, after discovering Tranchida through Decorilla, the online decorating platform that she co-founded in 2013. Tranchida showed Cohen different strategies for installing a flat-screen TV on the wall or within cabinetry or for specifying a traditional projector system. “The alternatives were cumbersome,” he determined from the exercise, and he put his name on Sony’s waitlist.

Front view

Top view

The company then dispatched specialists to Obsidian House to make sure that Cohen’s new home could accommodate the projector. This team verified that the wall dimensions in the loft’s living area were a sure fit and that its plaster finish was smooth enough to show the crystal-clear picture. Cohen did, however, have to move electric outlets so as not to interfere with the projection area.

Installation at the launch event, New York City; photos by Karin Kohlberg, karinkohlbergnyc.com

Cohen says that initially he was equally attracted to the Sony 4K Ultra Short Throw Projector as an object. The modules’ low-slung proportions and stacked aluminum fins set exactly the tone he imagined for life in Obsidian House. To underscore its sleekness, here the modules for the projector, speakers and other equipment are arranged in series to resemble a stylish, low cabinet.

Installation at the launch event, New York City

And just as Cohen and Tranchida prepared the space to optimize the projector’s performance, they composed the living area’s other furnishings to harmonize with the product. “We definitely built around it,” Tranchida says, “so we tried to use a lot of designer pieces to support that aesthetic.” A blue Natuzzi sofa will face the projection surface, and pendant lighting by Bocci and Tom Dixon — suspended above the ash dining table and the kitchen’s marble-topped peninsula, respectively — emphasize the height of the ceiling. Currently the collaborators are exploring artwork to mount to the opposite wall and considering Moroccan rugs that will add texture underneath the lounge seating.

Projecting fine art for the walls. (Actual appearance of projection varies depending on content and ambient light.)

In the meantime, Cohen is already entertaining friends and family at his new home. “The projector creates an extraordinary home experience. I really do view this as being art,” he says. Image definition and size work in tandem with integrated stereo technology to fully immerse guests in the content of Cohen’s choosing, while the homeowner has been indulging in series like “Narcos” and sports during his alone time. You can almost step over the linear modules and into scene, he says. And when the power is off, the Sony 4K Ultra Short Throw Projector has indoctrinated him completely in the world of good design.