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"View Slideshow\n\nWith helicopter views that make Central Park look like a diorama, and Hudson River vistas that stretch from the Statue of Liberty up past the George Washington Bridge, a 6,800-square-foot duplex on the 76th floor of a brand-new building on Manhattan&amp;#39;s Upper West Side was not living up to its potential. &amp;quot;It was a maze of rooms that were very disconnected from the views,&amp;quot; says architect Carlos Aparicio. &amp;quot;But I immediately saw it could be New York&amp;#39;s most magnificent apartment.&amp;quot; Because the building is on a slight diagonal to the street grid, he says, &amp;quot;you get a kinetic view of Manhattan, as if you are in a dream.&amp;quot;\n\nThe owners were dream clients, trading up from a prewar place across town decorated with Continental antiques and searching for someone with a vision; Aparicio was the tenth professional they interviewed. Eloquent and cerebral, the Cuban-born, Harvard-trained designer can talk passionately for hours about the project. &amp;quot;But at the end of the day,&amp;quot; he says, &amp;quot;the apartment speaks for itself.&amp;quot;\n\n&amp;quot;The views dictated everything,&amp;quot; Aparicio says, &amp;quot;even the palette. You see so much sky and water.&amp;quot;\n\nHis audacious plan required taking the newly constructed duplex &amp;quot;back to zero and then into the negative,&amp;quot; he says, explaining that he wanted to carve out a vast double-height space bordering the window wall, a scheme that would require removing part of the slab between the 76th and 77th floors. (An interior staircase was the only visible link between the stories.) &amp;quot;I envisioned that the staircase needed to float within the space, the space needed to float within the apartment, and the apartment needed to float above the city. These were the layers of poetry I was after.&amp;quot;\n\nThere&amp;#39;s a good reason no other designer made such a pie-in-the-sky proposal. &amp;quot;It required very complex\u2014and expensive\u2014engineering,&amp;quot; admits Aparicio. He offered no other scenarios to his clients, who had asked for a place where they could entertain on behalf of their favorite charities. &amp;quot;We had to take out 12,000 pounds of rubble, and we brought in new steel to reinforce the window wall. It took nine months of work before we were even ready to build.&amp;quot;\n\nOnce he resolved the architecture, the decorating followed seamlessly. As the owner of SoHo&amp;#39;s Gallery BAC, which specializes in 20th-century European antiques, Aparicio has an affinity for the designs of Jean-Michel Frank, Jean Roy\u00E8re, and Maison Jansen. &amp;quot;This furniture lent itself beautifully because the apartment is truly modern\u2014not that it is minimalist or 2011, but it has a bravado that is associated with what&amp;#39;s new.&amp;quot; He points to the massive 1924 gold-leafed murals by Jos\u00E9 Mar\u00EDa Sert at the top of the staircase. &amp;quot;The 1920s and &amp;#39;30s were the heyday of the skyscraper, when Sert was painting murals at Rockefeller Center. There was a sense back then of what we could do. This apartment very much has that sense of what can be done.&amp;quot;\n\nIt could be done only one way, in Aparicio&amp;#39;s mind. &amp;quot;The views dictated everything, including the color palette,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;You see so much sky and water that blue became part of the narrative.&amp;quot; The azure upholstery in the parchment-lined living room plays off the massive Savonnerie carpet with its pinks, grays, and blues, which repeat throughout the duplex. &amp;quot;That rug is the pulse of the living room,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;It makes the space thrive.&amp;quot;\n\nEven as he opened up the apartment, Aparicio knew his clients needed at least one cozy room. &amp;quot;I made the library introverted,&amp;quot; he says. Still, it sparkles like the skyline because of its golden ceiling and mirrored cabinetry. Over the limed-oak library table by Andr\u00E9 Arbus, he hung a bronze-and-galvanized-copper chandelier resembling twigs, made by Claude Lalanne. &amp;quot;I love something so organic falling from the gilt ceiling. It&amp;#39;s surreal\u2014almost like a Magritte painting,&amp;quot; he says.\n\nWhile guests are always dazzled by the vistas, the most extraordinary ones are private. In the husband&amp;#39;s bathroom, for instance, there&amp;#39;s a steam shower with a floor-to-ceiling glass wall overlooking Central Park (with no fear of anyone looking in, because of its height). In the wife&amp;#39;s bathroom, there&amp;#39;s a freestanding marble tub that seems adrift above Columbus Circle. &amp;quot;She,&amp;quot; Aparicio says, somewhat breathlessly, &amp;quot;literally bathes in the view.&amp;quot;\n\nClick here to see Aparicio&amp;#39;s redesign of this skyscraper duplex."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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