BAAO Architects

09/02/2026

Designing at the scale of the child.

For young children, architecture is experienced through the body: a window becomes a place to sit, an opening becomes a place to hide, and a change in ceiling height can make a space feel intimate or expensive.

At BAAO, we approach preschool design as the creation of environments for exploration, movement, gathering, and independence. We look for ways the entire space of the school can participate in learning.

Child-scaled openings and built-ins create spaces for retreat and discovery. Half-heigh walls give children a sense of privacy and independence while allowing adults to discreetly monitor activity and intervene when necessary. Interior windows and shared spaces allow children to see activity elsewhere and understand how their school fits together. In dense urban settings, courtyards, backyards, and rooftops extend the classroom outdoors.

Different scales of space give children choices about how they move, where they gather, what they see, and when they find a place of their own.

08/24/2026

08/09/2026

Three townhouses. Three primary floors. Three sequences.

The design of a primary floor grows from the relationship between the existing house and the ways its inhabitants want to live. Does the bedroom want to be near the garden, or facing the street? Does the bathroom want natural light? How should spaces for sleeping, dressing, bathing, and working connect, or remain separate?

In Boerum Hill Brownstone, the bedroom and separate home office are positioned at the front. Closets line an arched passage to the bathroom at the back, with a large steel window overlooking the garden.

In Fort Greene Townhouse, the bedroom and home office share space at the back and open out onto a terrace. A center closet zone leads to a generously sized bathroom at the front.

Carlton Brownstone places the home office at the front, in a room with preserved window moldings and a salvaged mantel. The bedroom occupies an extension with a balcony overlooking the rear, and the bathroom and closet in between.

Images 1-8 Gieves Anderson with styling by Philippa Brathwaite

Images 9-12 Francis Dzikowski with styling by Bricey

08/09/2026

Three townhouses. Three primary floors. Three sequences.

The design of a primary floor grows from the relationship between the existing house and the ways its inhabitants want to live. Does the bedroom want to be near the garden, or facing the street? Does the bathroom want natural light? How should spaces for sleeping, dressing, bathing, and working connect, or remain separate?

Carlton Brownstone places the home office at the front, in a room with preserved window moldings and a salvaged mantel. The bedroom occupies an extension with a balcony overlooking the rear, and the bathroom and closet in between.

In Fort Greene Townhouse, the bedroom and home office share space at the back and open out onto a terrace. A center closet zone leads to a generously sized bathroom at the front.

Boerum Hill Brownstone reverses that sequence. The bedroom and separate home office are positioned at the front. Closets line an arched passage to the bathroom at the back, with a large steel window overlooking the garden.

Images 1-4 Francis Dzikowski with styling by Bricey

Images 5-12 Gieves Anderson with styling by Philippa Brathwaite

07/30/2026

Three Townhouses. Three Sequences.

The design of a parlor floor grows from the relationship between an existing house and the people who will inhabit it.

Each building offers different opportunities. Each client imagines different ways of living.

The sequence of spaces develops through design that discovers the possibilities within an existing building and then translating or transforming them to support the ways in which its inhabitants want to live.

Fort Greene Townhouse has an open plan with a sequence organized as living room, dining room, kitchen, and breakfast nook.

Boerum Hill Brownstone has more defined spaces. The living room is at the front. An arched tradition zone with a bar and powder room leads to the kitchen and dining, which share space at the back.

Carlton Brownstone starts with a dining room off the front hall which leads to a bar and powder room transition space that connects to the kitchen. The living room occupies an extension that opens out onto the garden.

Photo 1-8 Gieves Anderson with styling by Philippa Brathwaite
Photos 9-13 Francis Dzikowski /OTTO with styling by Bricey

07/29/2026

The Full Ask: with .repost
・・・
Coming soon on Lefferts Place, a street mapped in 1835: a 22 foot wide Clinton Hill brownstone on an exceptional 140 foot lot, with architectural design by BAAO and garden by Brook Landscape.

Arches repeat across lofted doorways, barrel raised ceilings and skylights, and a wall of doors that draws the green of the garden into the parlor floor. Original mantels, stairs and railings sit against reconstructed medallions, high-end fixtures, fireplaces and natural stone. Five floors of rare features include a fully-equipped gym, a skylit library, copious surprising and functional built-ins, projector-equipped screening room, and hammam-like baths, all softly offset by a 1,600 square feet garden planted with serviceberry, fig, and lavender.

Comment 59ARCHES to get the full listing, or visit the link in our bio.

🗝️: Michaela Morton, The Jane Michaela MortonssThe Jane AdvisoryBaCompasschitecture OfficeBarker Architecture Office
Styling: SBROOKLANDSCAPEEstrin.
PhStudio Elliott Estrin of DD-repsKendall GregoryDD-reps

07/27/2026

We believe architecture and interior design are part of the same conversation. We develop every project as a cohesive palette—from space, form, and light to materials and furnishings.

Images 1-6 Gieves Anderson