DesignNJ-OctNov2023_Digital issue

stylenewjersey | EXPERT ADVICE
The wine room is centrally located on the first floor. “It plays a central visual role
adjacent to the main living spaces,” Michael Scro says.
“The glass-and-steel wine room features a gunmetal ceiling with thousands of tiny
perforations inspired by a starry night in the vineyards,” he adds.
DNJ: What was the inspiration for situating the wine room at the center of
the home?
MS: The clients wanted to recreate the feeling of a resort escape while
they were at home. We proposed centering the wine room in the heart
of the plan so it plays a central visual role adjacent to the main living
spaces. Locating the wine room in the center was one means of echoing
a layout similar to what one might experience walking through a resort
lobby, albeit at a residential scale. We knew that a glass form would
allow for views into the wine room where the wine bottles and labels
themselves act in the role of art, satisfying the clients’ appreciation of
both in a single move.
Lit in the evening with its “starry-night” pinhole steel ceiling, the
wine room acts as a sophisticated “night light,” softly illuminating the
surrounding spaces while inviting views in and through the room itself. It
serves as a critical pivot and dynamic focal point. The circular structural
glass floor pays homage to the oculus in the Pantheon in Rome and
28 October/November 2023