Kitchen system company Henrybuilt joined forces with Gachot Studios, Morris Adjmi Architects, and landscape designer Deborah Nevins to renovate The Sterling Mason in Tribeca. The building includes 33 residences outfitted with kitchens designed by Gachot Studios in collaboration with Henrybuilt. Henrybuilt CEO and founder Scott Hudson spoke to AN about the collaboration and the company’s plans for the new year.

The Architect’s Newspaper: What was the design inspiration for the Sterling Mason?

Scott Hudson: Taconic Investment Partners, the developer, wanted to create a building that was truly good to the core. “Good to the core” is one of the principles that drives Henrybuilt as a business so, in that sense, it was a perfect match. Most sophisticated, multi-unit developers building at the upper end of the market in cities like New York understand the value of working with a branded kitchen system company, as opposed to a traditional mill worker. But the range of options with European systems is limited and quality varies. In this case, we were able to produce our system, with all of its built-in functionality and quality, with a more traditional feel that we tailored to the project. This was perfect, given the priority of creating a building that had a connection to the feel and history of the neighborhood. The design direction and objective was very “American” and, in that sense, we were a unique choice.

What was Henrybuilt’s role in this collaboration?

We wanted to translate the primary design objectives developed by Gachot and Adjmi into a combination of features that could be executed well and still work within a reasonable budget. We developed custom pulls for the project and worked with Gachot to refine some very specific and tailored traditional details. We then worked with Morris Adjmi and Gachot to refine the design of each kitchen, assuring it worked well, took maximum advantage of the functional and quality aspects of our system, and could be installed efficiently. This was particularly challenging given the furniture-grade quality of the pieces. The vanities, also by Henrybuilt, were based on a design by Gachot that we only very slightly refined with them.

What can we expect to see from Henrybuilt in 2016?

We are expanding and improving our Whole House line of products to enable architects to work with us more easily and completely on every room in a home. We are also taking steps to build on the corporate kitchens we’ve provided to companies like Steelcase, Warner Music Group, Talbots, and Value Act Capital.

Some residents of the Sterling Mason have also requested that Henrybuilt design other elements in their homes in addition to the kitchen systems with Gachot.