FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WALL-ALL APARTMENT IN GUGGENHEIM STILLSPOTTING PROJECT
The latest project by Haiko Cornelissen Architecten is part of the new Guggenheim Stillspotting NYC project in Jackson Heights, Queens

NEW YORK, April 19, 2012 – On the weekends from April 14 to May 6, the WALL-ALL apartment project by Haiko Cornelissen Architecten will be included in the new edition of Stillspotting NYC in Jackson Heights, Queens, a project by the Guggenheim Museum.

The WALL-ALL apartment by Haiko Cornelissen Architecten is a renovation project that expands the most important spaces by compressing the lesser used spaces into the apartment
walls. Thanks to this unique concept that creates a quiet oasis within the dense urban environment, the apartment has been selected as a Stillspot for the Guggenheim project.

The two-year multidisciplinary Stillspotting NYC project by Assistant Curator David van der Leer explores stillness in the five boroughs of New York City. For the third edition in the Stillspotting NYC series, the Guggenheim Museum has commissioned architecture firm SO–IL to develop a living study of stillness in the vibrant immigrant neighborhood of Jackson Heights, Queens. The resulting project, Transhistoria, tells transformative personal narratives in a series of spaces selected by So-Il, including the WALL-ALL apartment.

In the WALL-ALL apartment, the Transhistoria story is told in the living room. After the renovation by Haiko Cornelissen Architecten, the most intensively used space in the apartment is more than doubled. Office, library and kitchen functions are compressed in the walls to make space for the living room. The variety of functions creates a rich diversity of compression methods. Sliding doors conceal the office space while an upside-down door guards the media center in the library wall. Kitchen cabinets are stepped back to cover the kitchen functions (including the refrigerator), creating gaps that avoid door handles. In the bathroom a polished aluminum wall is created that conceals storage space and shower controls which runs straight into the exterior window. As a consequence the polished wall expands the room by reflecting the exterior window while forming a shower curtain in the open position.

With the WALL-ALL renovation, Haiko Cornelissen Architecten has designed a new way to bring old apartments in tune with contemporary lifestyles. The increased spaciousness and efficiency creates a unique answer to the flexible needs of today that even allows for public storytelling sessions such as Stillspotting NYC to happen in the living room.