TOUCH THE SKY

In an aerie high above Manhattan, Kelly Behun composes a personal ode to the city she's made her own

- HANNAH MARTIN

You can't help but be mesmerized by it," says AD100 designer Kelly Behun, taking in the bird's-eye view of New York City out the window of her sky-high apartment. From her vantage point in the Rafael Viñoly-designed super-tall building, 432 Park Avenue, you can observe the everyday ebb and flow of the city. The planes that land every minute or so at LaGuardia Airport. The tail lights shooting up Park at night. The constant construction on a recent visit, the new headquarters of JPMorgan Chase by Foster + Partners was topping off just to the south, rejiggering the view. The changing leaves in Central Park. "If you get out your binoculars, you can sometimes see the sea lions at the zoo," she says with a laugh.

Behun and her family moved into the two-story space about three years ago. The interiors required little updating. So Behun set to work furnishing a setting that could act as a backdrop for the real star of the space: the city. "I didn't want to try to upstage the view because really, you just can't," explains the designer, who worked in a mostly neutral palette that let the pulsing metropolis below sing. On the day of my visit-a sunny afternoon in October-a fire was roaring. The diaphanous living room was bathed in shades of frothy whitea plaster wall treatment by Callidus Guild; the sculptural floor lamp by Christopher Baker, made from gauzy paper and fabric panels. And while there were plenty of places to sit-the landscape of custom sofas, armchairs by Studio Van den Akker or Karpen-the cushioned seats around the room's perimeter were, no doubt, the most inviting option.