For the seventh summer, I’ll be spotlighting little aspects of life here that I love. To see the previous Valentines, click the Valentine tag at the end of the post.

Before I started this website, I don’t know that I was aware of the atria/skylights in the rear of so many Tribeca buildings—usually on the ground floor, and often extending down to the basement, or possibly lower. As I visited more and more spaces, however, I began noticing them, and growing fond of them. Of the top of my head, there are nice ones at Tutto Il Giorno, Best Made Co., Ever After, Patrick Parrish, La Garçonne, 180…. But what really gets me excited is when someone tweaks the idea—such as the residential version I recently mentioned at 403 Greenwich (first photo below), and the dazzling Daniel Buren installation that kicked off Bortolami’s new gallery on Walker (second photo). But the one that delights me most is less of a tweak and more of an homage: Shinola‘s trompe l’oeil version (third photo), with light that changes as if it’s real.