Fri Feb 10

Modern History

Written by Jason Feinberg
Published in Architecture
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Architect Richard Goodstein brings historical to the modern age.

I knew Richard and I would hit it off when I started the conversation with “I look at floor plans in my spare time”. I guess its my way of saying, I always wanted to be an architect. I think the reality is that when I see the work of people like Richard Goodstein, I can clearly see why he is the architect and I am not.

Goodstein, who owns his own firm nC2, is a Long Island native and has an interesting portfolio. On the grand scale, his work includes the Time Warner Center, World Trade Center Tower 1 (Freedom Tower), Memorial Sloan Kettering Research Building and the Moynihan Station (Penn Station Expansion). But equally impressive is his smaller scale work.

"My job as the architect is to filter all those ideas and make it coherent to the design.”

I was curious how an architect can go from the Freedom tower and Memorial Slone Kettering to remodeling a town house? How does that process change? “It’s [still] a collaborative process, just that more people are involved. Everyone has an opinion and input. My job as the architect is to filter all those ideas and make it coherent to the design.” Says Richard, “As the scale of the project increases so does the amount of people influencing it. A good example is the Moynihan project.”

While speaking, I toured his website and we took a look at a four story Fort Greene townhouse. Goodstein excels in the ability to take an existing building and make it modern. And that is exactly what the goal of this particular project was, a goal that was certainly achieved.

There were a number of things that stood out in this particular project for me. The staircase wall was bright orange and just seemed to go on forever. The use of the bright color while retaining the ornamental plaster and dark woods made a simple staircase really stand out.

He doesn’t push his own styles on his clients and his work is nothing but high quality.

There were two rooms that as Richard put it “its just a bathroom.” But in reality it was much more.

In the master bath, Goodstein creates a cascading waterfall wall of dark wood that flows into a lake becoming the floor. He also achieves a similar effect in another bathroom with the use of tile. This was a prime example of how materials are a special part of the project.

Richard’s creativity doesn’t stop with floors and walls. In one of his mill work sections, he built and intricate staircase for a loft that I had to ask, “Is that a staircase?” The single stringer design almost defies engineering. The forms are very simple and satisfy the functional requirements.

Even with his modern tastes, he doesn’t push his own styles on his clients and his work is nothing but high quality. From simple residential to full on commercial, Richard Goodstein is worth a look.