The owner of this Tribeca loft was persuaded he’d been a Buddhist monk in a previous life. Over several decades he had collected a suite of Chinese antiques along with a collection of fine art that included two Andy Warhols and a Mark Tansy. Thus, the Laight Street loft became a study in the collision of two cultures. Ebonized wood floors, evocative of eastern residential architecture, were installed throughout. White walls provide a gallery like back drop for the art collection. A sculptural gold leaf spiral, inspired by the Wat Pho reclining buddha, dominates a central open core that is carved out of the center of the loft. A limestone temple gate stone, mounted flush with limestone lined walls, hovers above the master tub and is engraved with the Chinese characters “polite” and “amiable” to symbolize, in combination, peace. A sleek Poliform platform bed with a low-profile headboard is combined with sprawling hand painted Edo period gold leaf Japanese screen to create a room scaled headboard. A solid black granite Botero Buddha presides contemplatively over the entry.