![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2021/07/verandah-townhouse-space-4-architecture-interiors-new-york-hero-852x479.jpg)
Space4Architecture adds skylight staircase to minimal Brooklyn townhouse
New York studio Space4Architecture has brought natural light into a townhouse in Brooklyn's Carroll Gardens neighbourhood by adding a staircase topped with a skylight.
Called Verandah Place Townhouse, the Brooklyn home is a late 1800s carriage house – an outbuilding originally built for horse-drawn carriages.
![Space4Architecture designed the project](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2021/07/verandah-townhouse-space-4-architecture-interiors-new-york_dezeen_2364_col_0-852x568.jpg)
Space4Architecture was tasked with transforming the house's interiors for a family of five and their dog to create a comfortable and functional space with a minimal design.
Multiple previous renovations had left the house without many of its original features, leaving only the redbrick facade.
![The townhouse is in Brooklyn's Carroll Gardens neighbourhood](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2021/07/verandah-townhouse-space-4-architecture-interiors-new-york_dezeen_2364_col_26-852x1278.jpg)
"At the time of acquisition, the carriage house was all divided into small rooms and narrow hallways," Space4Architecture principal Michele Busiri-Vici told Dezeen.
"By working simultaneously on horizontal and vertical planes we were able to free the interior space, creating a sense of openness while at the same time guaranteeing the necessary number of rooms required by our client."
![The home is informed by loft design](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2021/07/verandah-townhouse-space-4-architecture-interiors-new-york_dezeen_2364_col_23-852x1278.jpg)
Informed by New York loft apartments, the architecture studio wanted the outwardly narrow home to have an interior with an uninterrupted flow.
"We created a loft on four storeys," explained Busiri-Vici. "We juxtaposed a very private and traditional exterior with an extremely open, contemporary and welcoming interior."
![A staircase is one of the townhouse's central features](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2021/07/verandah-townhouse-space-4-architecture-interiors-new-york_dezeen_2364_col_13-1-852x1278.jpg)
Central to opening out the townhouse was the insertion of a white staircase with oak treads and open risers, flanked on one side by plastered parapets.
Positioned above a skylight and next to a large glass door, the stairwell adds natural light to the narrow building.
"The stairwell is the house's standout design feature," said Busiri-Vici. "It is a vessel of light and a continuous visual reference, both horizontally and vertically, throughout the entire home."
A neutral colour palette is maintained in every room of Verandah Place with soft white walls and built-in oak millwork. Wooden floors are from the Italian brand Alpha.
![Space4Architecture added custom millwork to the rooms](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2021/07/verandah-townhouse-space-4-architecture-interiors-new-york_dezeen_2364_col_4-852x568.jpg)
The house's white walls and pale oak floors are a strategy to maximise light.
"The house doesn't have big enough windows to bring tons of natural light inside," said Busiri-Vici.
"The pristine plastered walls and ceilings and the soft white oak of the floor and the millwork receive natural light and diffuse it throughout the home."
![Colourful furniture in the living room](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2021/07/verandah-townhouse-space-4-architecture-interiors-new-york_dezeen_2364_col_22-852x1278.jpg)
Splashes of colourful furniture contrast with a blackened-steel fireplace in the living room while delicate terrazzo tiles by Concrete Collaborative line the main bathroom.
"The townhouse's design is minimal, clean and essential," concluded Busiri-Vici.
![Terrazzo tiles the main bathroom](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2021/07/verandah-townhouse-space-4-architecture-interiors-new-york_dezeen_2364_col_19-852x1278.jpg)
Space4Architecture is a New York-based architectural design studio founded in 1999 and led by Michele Busiri-Vici and Clementina Ruggieri.
The firm has completed a similar townhouse with a curved white staircase in the city's Upper West Side.
The photography is by Beatrice Pediconi.