Nothing happened for the first five or so turns of the lever, but after the sixth, some hidden mechanism clicked, and the empty wall adjacent to the window began lifting from the floor up, fitting into a system of tracks on the ceiling -- not unlike a garage door.
Vice watched as an ample lab was revealed bit by bit. It was easily double the size of the penthouse's living room. Almost cavernous.
There must have been something else besides Rodrigo's penthouse -- perhaps a smaller apartment, or even some kind of guest house -- and he had gutted it all to build this.
This being a room filled with gleaming steel surfaces, implements that Vice didn't recognise, and huge central control system.