India Mahdavi Brings a Splash of Color to the High Line
When India Mahdavi was designing the Gallery at Sketch in London—arguably her most well-known project—she was looking for a color she described as “the essence of pink.” Later, when redesigning the same space (which debuted earlier this year), the Iranian French designer was asked what hue she’d go for next; “I said warmth is the new color,” she tells AD.
For those familiar with Mahdavi’s work, to say she has a way with color is redundant—the AD100 alum can spin a palette like no other. But it’s in these descriptions that Mahdavi demonstrates her greatest gift: not how she uses color, but how she perceives it. When working on her latest project, a model residence in New York, Mahdavi didn’t outfit the space with reds, greens, and blues, but rather in “vibrations,” she says.
The developers of One High Line, a luxury mixed-use building in New York’s West Chelsea neighborhood, tapped Mahdavi to design a four-bedroom, 4.5-bath condo on the 27th floor for prospective buyers to tour. “When I first discovered India’s work I was taken by the effect her design has on people and the spaces she transforms,” Alex Witkoff, principal at the Witkoff Group, says. “Her use of color is authoritative, vibrant, and engaging.”
The two-tower complex housing the unit was designed by Bjarke Ingels Group and sits in an area of Manhattan that’s a hotbed of high-profile modern design. Just across the street from One High Line is Frank Gehry’s IAC Building, and two other condo complexes designed by Jean Nouvel and Thomas Heatherwick sit within a one-block radius.
