Incredible NYC Penthouse With 4-Story Slide Was Inspired By Math

Some home designs are inspired by an era or piece of art. The new issue of Bloomberg Pursuits takes a look inside a 7,000-square-foot penthouse in lower Manhattan that was inspired by math.

The unconventional space, with sloping walls, hidden lofts, and a 40-foot steel column, was designed by architect David Hotson.

Bloomberg Pursuits' Justin Davidson explains how the design was conceived:

To help Hotson along, his mathematically minded client sent him his dissertation, about an algorithm capable of discerning the structure underpinning complex sequences of symbols: a Bach partita, a human genome, a sonnet.

It turns out that if you feed in enough data, a computer can deduce the principles of counterpoint, heredity and Elizabethan verse. Hotson similarly used raw computing power — and a 3-D laser scan of the unfinished space — to render a design that previous generations could hardly have visualized, let alone built.

The best part of the house, by far, sounds like the 4-story stainless steel slide that lets riders out near the dining room table. It was installed in two separate pieces, before there were walls or floors.

The one question Bloomberg doesn't answer — who is the mystery owner of the funhouse? If you have a guess, let us know in the comments.

Check out Bloomberg Pursuits' interview with Hotson: