Library And Wardrobe. In a 1,100-square-foot loft in Emeryville, California, Lynda and Peter Benoit designed and built a wooden structure to hold books and keepsakes, store clothes, and house a bedroom. Peter documented the whole design-build process in this three-part series. Photo by Drew Kelly.
Modern Small Space Bedroom Nook With Stairs. Not a square inch of storage is lost in Michael Pozner’s not-quite-500-square-foot aerie in Greenwich Village. Of the seven steps leading up to the sleeping area, five contain drawers. His small set of table and chairs is from CB2.
A pair of windows shed a bit of light in the Harpoon House bedroom, which boasts a lofted bed and workspace with a sink and closet beneath. The sink is by Lacava and the tap is from Fluid Faucet’s Wisdom line. “People ask us, ‘What did you do to make your house not feel like this cramped little thing?’ with the idea that the house is trying to act big,” says resident Katherine Bovee. “It’s not. It’s a small house acting like a small house. We built the house to fit in its own skin.” Photo by John Clark
“This unit is oddly shaped, with every wall at an angle, and I wanted to do something more interesting than just putting up a wall in the middle,” says architect Nathan Lee Colkitt. To that end, he devised two lofts in his apartment: one for sleeping and one for reading.
Located in New York City’s Union Square area, this 700-square-foot apartment features a bedroom lofted above a full kitchen. The volume that both incorporates the single closet (accessible from the hallway) and the refrigerator (which opens into the kitchen) and serves as the bedroom floor is, says resident Kyu Sung Woo, “where everything comes together.” Photo by Adam Friedberg
Crunched for space, the residents of these homes—mostly under 1,000 square feet—have the same ideas: look upward and compartmentalize. Lofted sleeping areas, closets, and reading nooks are among the smart space-saving solutions.
Loft apartments always have a distinct feel. Their openness, combined with their usual amounts of streaming light, makes them instantly appealing for most urban dwellers. Who wouldn’t want more light and a sense of more space in what’s usually a more crowded area? But lofts can also feel a bit cookie cutter, especially when the original space has been mass-converted to support loft living. A dozen or more lofts with the same feel and layout can feel stifling. This loft, designed by Indot, takes the idea of a traditional loft and plays with it using geometry, color, and texture. Don’t think that lofts are just limited to red exposed brick and neutrally painted walls.
french firm RMDM architects have recently completed ’10 very high performance apartments’, a social housing building within the 18th arrondissement of paris, france. with the encompassing urban block undergoing transformation, this pair of structures offers a home to lower income residents while an outdoor area for repose creates a vegetated buffer zone between the building and densely developed district. an entry elevation clad with vertically sliding aluminum cassette panels in three tones of white to gray activate the facade projecting a structure which is entirely closed off from the surrounding environment or dynamically adjusts to the daily activity of dwellers. the hinges allow the shutters to be opened in diverse degrees, offering privacy and protection from solar gain.
a U-shaped plan wraps an open-air patio to benefit each of the units from natural daylight. living spaces are oriented to overlook the dynamic and communal spaces. two of the roof wings feature terraces while a row of inclined solar panels mirror the exterior’s aesthetic and support hot water production. (db)
Welcome to an extremely well designed apartment with plenty of light and space. Featuring two rooms and a total living space of 54 square meters, this crib is a great example of how to decorate a small home with style. The apartment also has a large superb terrace of 58 square meters, a relaxation oasis with a wooden deck and plenty of room for outdoor furniture. Fascinating flower decoration make this place a fresh getaway and a perfect place to have friends over for a peaceful gathering. A hammock and decorative rock materials contribute to an original atmosphere. The living room is the core of the home, with plenty of seating space, a color palette based mainly on black and white and a lovely dining table. Large windows add a nice touch to the overall design of the apartment. Have a look and tell us what you think! (“Freshome – Interior Design, Decorating & Architecture Magazine”)
