Each year designers from around the country flock to Manhattan's Upper East Side to take part in the annual Kips Bay Designer Showhouse. The designers are asked to create individual rooms within a chosen residence to showcase their own creativity. Founded in 1915, the Kips Bay Designer Showhouse promotes juvenile development and prevents juvenile delinquency by helping young people recognize and achieve their potential by providing support to the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Clubs.
This year's Showhouse was on Park Avenue and 64th Street and featured a deluxe screening room created in the five-story townhouse by Howard Werner, partner in Lightswitch, and interior designer Theo Kalomirakisto. The screening room is an eight-seat movie theatre designed by TK Theaters of New York City. It uses simple geometric forms that are evocative of an Art Deco style. The space's inverted pyramids are internally lit with Color Kinetics LED fixtures and framed by back-lit panels.
Lightswitch also designed the waiting area, bar, and powder room adjacent to the theatre space. For these areas, Lightswitch used fixtures from Translight Sonoma, as well as an elegant line of red neon. “Kips Bay is doing tremendous work with children in the New York City area,” Werner says. “It's a privilege to be working on a project where the proceeds go to such a great cause, and to also be continuing our relationship with TK Theaters.”