LONDON.- High-rise living has a unique allure: the view, the distance. Penthouse Syndrome - Interiors Above the City looks at how altitude reshapes both architecture and the feeling of home. At height, rooms behave differently, scale recalibrates, and daily rhythms change. The book tours extraordinary residences, demonstrating how vertical living manifests globally, including: Shanghai, Québec City, São Paulo, New York City, Antwerp, Berlin, and Paris.

The residences featured here show how designers balance structure and emotion in spaces detached from the ground. Together they reveal something essential about intimacy, perspective, and how we long to live today. Many of the featured spaces are the personal homes of the architects and designers themselves, completing a "perfect circle of creation and experience". This includes Canadian architect Jean Verville (BRUJ), designers Wen Shan Foo & Chung Kai Hsieh (AB House), and SPARK Architects founder Stephen Pimbley (Project Moving House).

Outstanding Design Concepts:

● The Tribeca Penthouse in New York City situated almost 80 stories up, the design emphasizes its complete removal from the everyday. Its most outstanding detail is the creation of distinct emotional atmospheres, including the dark, enveloping media room, famously dubbed the "vampire speakeasy".

● The Mantelpiece (Stockholm): Achieved a loft within a loft within a loft by converting unused roof cavity space, with new constructions using bold, solid colors that stand out like life-sized building blocks.

● Apartamento Maranhão (São Paulo): An exercise in calm that plays with perception and uses elemental forms and earthy materials against a vast panorama.

● 1927 Art Deco (San Francisco): The design weaves direct references to the cityscape into the interior, such as a dining table base recalling the nearby Transamerica Pyramid.

● Leblon Apartment (Rio de Janeiro): Reimagined the upper floor entirely as a leisure and social area, featuring a swimming pool, sauna, and multiple gardens to maximize the panoramic view of the beach.

Penthouse Syndrome: Interiors Above the City Hardcover

Publisher: gestalten Editor: gestalten
Features: Full color, hardcover, stitch bound, 256 pages Format: 24 x 30 cm, 9 ½ x 11 ¾ inches
Price: € 50 (D) £ 45 $ 75 (US)
ISBN: 978-3-96704-206-1



Artdaily participates in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn commissions by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. When you purchase through our links, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. These commissions help us continue curating and sharing the art world’s latest news, stories, and resources with our readers.