Do not go looking for extra-large flat screens or plump leather sofas at the Upper East Side of Manhattan apartment of architect Pietro Cicognani—you won’t find them. “I wanted to play with the idea of a bachelor’s apartment,” says the New York–based architect. “When you’re an architect you always do projects for other people; this is the first time I decided to do something for myself.” The task was a reimagined bachelor pad, something we’ve seen done before but perhaps not this artfully. The framework looks familiar: two bedrooms, one of which contains a living area, one with a king-size bed, only a few furniture pieces, scarcely any cooking supplies in a sleek kitchen. What defies tradition, however, is what’s inside or, maybe more accurately, what’s not.

Cicognani’s home intentionally reads more like a gallery than living quarters. The architect incorporated a series of six walk-in closets to hide away the practical items of everyday life. What remains in the common spaces are furniture and art, both of which are spare but also decidedly extraordinary: a bed upholstered in humanely procured python skins, a brutalist wall sconce by Jean-Jacques Argueyrolles, a leather and brass trestle table by Paolo Moschino for Nicholas Haslam, artwork from the likes of Andrew Lord and Louise Bourgeois.

The architect committed to a masculine color palette of gray and red, which feels regal among the animal skins and hide rugs that are found throughout. Art was used liberally, in traditional and nontraditional ways. For example, the architect’s own family portraits were reinterpreted as large-scale artworks. An enviable sneaker collection is displayed gallery-style in the so-called library. In the kitchen cabinets, everyday plates, pots, and wares were traded for museum-quality art pieces.

When asked about executing life’s mundanities, like meal prepping, in such an apartment, the architect simply states, “A bachelor doesn’t cook,” he says. “Especially in New York.” Spoken like a true bachelor.

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