Does it take a certain type of person to live in a glass house?

BY JASON SHEFTELL

Thursday, September 6th 2007, 4:00 AM

Psychiatrists and psychologists could have a field day with people who want to live in the all-glass apartment buildings popping up all over the five boroughs, especially the one we featured earlier in this section, in Long Island City.

"Well, the first thing you could say is that a glass building is great for narcissists and exhibitionists," says Henry Spitz, a Manhattan-based psychiatrist practicing in the city for more than 30 years. "People who want to be on display could have their own personal stage."

New York City has no shortage of those. Martha Stewart lives in an all-glass building. So does Calvin Klein. Both of them bought in Richard Meier's West St. glass towers.

Not surprisingly, the most popular place to sunbathe in Hudson River Park is directly in front of the Meier glass buildings. Neighborhood resident Tommy Frayne takes his son Oscar on walks there every day. "I always think that somebody in Hoboken with a good telescope can get a lot of entertainment out of these buildings," he says. "But people who live on the first floor on Bank St. have people look inside all the time."

In Brooklyn, Meier's On Prospect Park building, from developer SDS Procida, is another all-glass affair. Going up on Grand Army Plaza across from the Brooklyn Library, On Prospect Park is directly across the street from a row of park benches that face the building's facade like cars at a drive-in movie.

Developer Mario Procida knew he was getting all-glass when he went with Meier for his chief architect.

"Glass is a matter of buyer preference," says Procida. "As a developer, you look for something that sets your project apart. This building stands out. It shines during the day."

Lucy James and her husband bought a two-bedroom on the second floor of the building. They're retiring to New York City after a lifetime in Princeton, N.J. She doesn't seem worried about people looking in.

"If I need a new bathrobe, I'll get one," says James. "Inside the space, you feel free and weightless. It makes me want to get rid of all my clutter. They can look in all they want."

Other occupants of glass houses feel differently. Chuck Sword and his wife rented in the all-glass building at 505 Greenwich St. The area has seen three glass buildings go up in the past three years.

"My wife was a little freaked out by people in the building across the way always looking at her or trying to look at her," says Sword, a high-tech consultant who worked from home. "You'd walk out of the shower and be in for a surprise if you forgot to lower the blinds."

A fashion model lived there before them. She warned the couple about the constant feeling of being watched. Supermodel Petra Nemcova also lives in the building. So does Oprah author-gone-sour James Frey and designer Thom Filicia.

"I didn't mind it," says Sword, who moved out of the building after the birth of the couple's first child. "I'd be working in boxers and a T-shirt and everyone across the way would be dressed. It made me feel good about what I was doing."

The architect of 505 Greenwich St., Gary Handel, who also built the glass residences at 255 Hudson around the corner, says that while glass connotes an immediate understanding of the modern world, it's still about the views.

"Architects are control freaks," he says. "We want clean lines and we want to offer people what they might lack in New York City - views, light and space. Yes, we would tell people how to furnish their apartments if we could."

Outside of 255 Hudson, you can see clutter inside the glass windows, some folk art sculptures, and even what looks like a wooden duck. The apartments have floor-to-ceiling glass windows on both the east- and west-facing facades.

Financier Peter Miller just moved into 255 Hudson. From Germany, Miller doesn't concern himself with voyeurs. "Throughout the day I get natural light," he says. "It feels better than being stuck in a dark corner of an old traditional building. I don't care if people watch me."

New York psychologist Susan Spitz, psychiatrist Henry's wife, says that she has treated people with seasonal affective disorder, none of whom lived in a glass apartment building or had big windows. "I had a patient who moved to California to get more light and space," she says. "Traditional New York apartments might have been too confining for her."

Interior designer John Barman lives in an all-glass building on Park Ave. and designs for like-minded clients. "On a hot day or a cold day, the temperature in a glass apartment building can change rapidly," says Barman. "You have to watch the effect of sunlight on your art. It can fade colors. I make sure all my clients know that."

Today's architects are drawn to glass because of recent innovations regarding the material. New forms of glass are more flexible, come in colorful hues or tints that change color as the day lengthens, and are manufactured at much greater sizes per pane. Solar panels have also played a part in the increased use of glass.

Audrey Matlock, architect of the Chelsea Modern, now under construction on W. 18th St., has already won design awards for the building's glass facade. Matlock created glass ribbons that, when viewed from different angles inside and outside the building, appear to undulate.

"I wanted to give the appearance of one side zigging while the other was zagging," says Matlock. "The advances with glass have allowed me to really create something dynamic with this facade. We had to use ice catchers and heaters on the window sills to ensure icicles didn't fall off the building toward the street."

As for street gazers peering into the building, Matlock says she's as guilty as anyone else. "I've peaked into so many windows by now that I can't be mad about anyone looking in," she says.

Psychologist Spitz concurs: "If you don't like being watched, this would not be a mentally healthy way to live. You probably aren't going to see the paranoids living in one of these buildings. But claustrophobics, now they would love it."

Sales in glass buildings have been going well. "The philosophy that you have to be into contemporary architecture to live in one of these buildings is outdated," says Kelly Mack, president of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing, the leader in the sales and marketing of global residential condos. "People are selling their suburban mansions to set up traditional homes in glass structures."