Financial District, Manhattan · six model units, 700–1,600 sq ft each · developer project for SL Green & Douglas Elliman · completed 2022

SL Green and Douglas Elliman brought us in to design six model units for 7 Dey Residences with a specific audience in mind: post-pandemic young professionals in their 20s and 30s — finance, tech, and creative — being pulled downtown for the first time. The brief needed each unit to feel premium yet warm, distinctive yet relatable, and different enough from one another to reach a range of buyer profiles without the building feeling scattered.

We used Feng Shui as the actual spatial framework for the units — circulation, sightlines, and natural light drove the floor plans before finishes were ever chosen. Where a lot of downtown developer product leans into cool, minimal, gray-on-gray staging, we went the other way: a soft, colorful, tonal palette across patterned wallpaper, velvet and chenille upholstery, antique brass accents, and natural materials like wood, caning, and rattan. Each of the six units got its own point of view within that shared language, so a prospective buyer could recognize their own life in at least one of them.

The units became the building's central marketing reference during launch and supported record-breaking prices for a new Financial District development — proof that warmth sells as well as polish.

Client testimonial: "They delivered a stunning vision. The staged units were able to yield a strong return on the investment." — Devon O'Toole, Douglas Elliman