When you enter a Frank Lloyd Wright home, there’s often a major wow moment—when you step out of the close quarters of an entryway and into a vast space. It’s a tried-and-true architectural technique that the great American architect called compression and release. When AD100 interior designer Julie Hillman was faced with the startlingly low entry ceilings in this Upper West Side aerie, she took a page from Wright’s book. “I made it all black,” she explains. “So you enter through this low steel frame, and then everything just opens up.” Behold: a sun-bathed glass volume with soaring 14-foot ceilings overlooking the Hudson River, a bespoke Nacho Carbonell light sculpture hovering there like a cloud.

This is the way Hillman works—she’s not afraid to take a risk. And that’s exactly why her clients brought her on to turn their pristine glass-and-steel penthouse into a home, infusing the contemporary architecture with soul and style while making it comfortable for the whole family, who moved here to be closer to the kids’ school. “We wanted our place to be a hangout for their friends in the neighborhood,” says client Campbell Brown, the Emmy-winning journalist and news anchor for CNN and NBC, who led media partnerships at Meta for many years.

Once you’re past the “release” stage of the journey, the first thing you see is a custom modular table—designed by Hillman with a base by Eric Schmitt—that can be broken up into three parts or strung together into one long arrangement (they’re cleverly placed on invisible casters for easy reconfiguring). “The big question was where to put the dining room,” Hillman explains. “And so we placed it in the center, right when you walk in.” This arrangement works for everyday or entertaining, as a place to do homework, serve drinks at a cocktail party, or host a big shabbat dinner.

But how to create the sense of “rooms” within one large, irregularly shaped area? Hillman used bespoke Solstys floor coverings in round, almost biomorphic shapes to designate separate living spaces on either side of that central dining table. In the slightly more formal “living room,” a Rick Owens daybed and Pierre Paulin chairs mingle with a Raphael Navot sofa and a bronze Misha Kahn cocktail table. The slightly asymmetric shape of the custom bronze fireplace by Officina Coppola embraces the off-kilter lines of the space.

Meanwhile in the more casual family room, a custom sectional wraps around a hulking tree-trunk table by Hugo Franca, across from a Harp chair by Jørgen Høvelskov. On each side, Hillman designed bespoke wall-mounted metal bookcases to house the clients’ expansive collection. Sticking with a diaphanous, largely neutral palette—with pops of color coming from the family’s trove of mostly contemporary art—allowed Hillman to create a sense of unity across the vast volume of open space.

In the kitchen—which is also visible from the main living area—Hillman installed a Boffi system with a slightly metallic finish that plays with the light. “It has a sexy feel to it,” she explains. While it didn’t originally contain an eat-in area, Hillman carved out a breakfast nook appointed with a custom resin Studio Nucleo table and Pierre Guariche chairs. The translucent quality of the material lends a luminescent quality to the room. “It’s almost as if you were to shine a light on a piece of alabaster,” she explains. “But since it’s a resin, the kids can do anything on it. You don’t need coasters and place mats and all of that.”

This was a general mandate throughout the house. “I love design and I wanted every piece to be special,” Brown explains. “But I also have teenage boys and dogs, so every room needed to feel welcoming and comfortable. The space couldn’t be too formal.” And while pieces may be highly collectible, this family is living with them every day. They do homework on that Studio Nucleo table, hang out with coffee on the Raphael Navot sofa, and the boys play video games from a colorful Pierre Charpin chair in their hang-out room—illuminated by an Isamu Noguchi floor lamp. Brown, who currently works as an advisor for the AI startup TollBit, reports blissful use of every room, saying simply: “What Julie pulled off is perfection for us as a family.”