Lawyer David Smith and graphic designer Ra ‘ed Alawadhi’s renovated apartment melds modernity and warmth.
Photography Antoine Schneck
By Corinne Bensahel
The living room and kitchen. Notice the ottoman, designed by interior designer Therese Gurney, which is used as both a place to sit and as a coffee table.
When David Smith and his partner Ra ‘ed Alawadhi decided to renovate their new apartment, they wanted to create a modern space without the coldness of many contemporary apartments. After much investigation, Smith, a business lawyer, and Alawadhi, the creative graphic designer for the contemporary furniture store Apartment Zero, decided to hire talented architect Robert M. Gurney to design the space.
Located in one of the oldest buildings in Washington, the apartment was a sequence of rectangular, contiguous rooms with small windows and no charm. Despite the challenge, Gurney thought the old building could be readily adapted for a modern lifestyle.
