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The two-story brick building, that dates back to the 1800s, had good bones, but all the walls and ceiling had been bafflingly covered up with white boards for the past few decades and the wooden ceiling was starting to deteriorate. The design team, led by company founder Tommaso Fantoni, peeled back construction layers to expose beautiful brick archways that ended up informing the entire plan.

“All edges are rounded where possible, including one of the casted concrete walls, to give fluidity to all movements, to the touch, and to the eye,” explained Fantoni. Even the master bed with its rounded-corner platform was given a custom semi-circular headboard to fit into one of the brick arches.

Though it has only two bedrooms, with 3,200 square feet, the area has been well apportioned for the owner’s large gatherings. “It’s a great space for parties,” Fantoni told Wallpaper. “They frequently get a hundred people here.”

The common rooms include the kitchen and dining room, as well as a spacious living room with a built-in set of tiered seating in flowing curves. There are also extra sitting rooms, one on the main level and one upstairs overlooking the entertaining area below.

Fantoni took a personal interest in creating a customized space for the owner, who is also a sailing champion. “I devised everything down to the toilet paper holder,” he said.

Using a materials palette of primarily wood, iron, brick, and concrete, Fantoni created special features like a circular staircase, enclosed in a rounded concrete stairwell, with boat propeller-inspired oak stair treads.

The floors were redone in wide oak planks, with gaps blackened to mimic the look of a sailing vessel deck.

The master bath is clad in soot-gray slate from Liguria, a favorite sailing haunt of the owner, a color choice that also offers a soothing serenity to the room.

“It’s the quality of the design and the details that appeals to me,” the architect said. “The simplest things are always the most beautiful.”

Attention to those types of details was bred into Frantoni. Architecture and design were the bread and butter of his childhood as the grandson of famous architect and furniture designer Osvaldo Borsani, and the son of accomplished designers Valeria Fantoni-Borsani and Marco Fantoni. Tommaso’s own creative acumen landed him a decade-long career with Noman Foster’s New York branch of Foster + Partners, after which he found his own studio in 2015.

In fact, Frantoni unwittingly brought in aspects from his heritage to this garage restoration. The hollowed-out half-moon shapes that function as handles on the many sliding doors in the residence came out of his familial subconscious. “It’s exactly the same half-moon as in the master bedroom in the Borsani house,” he said. “But I had no idea until after I had completed this project and I opened up my grandfather’s house this spring. Some things just come to you.”

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That’s what Cavejastudio and Denara have pulled off with the restoration and renovation of a historic apartment in Cesena, Emilia Romagna, Italy. The home measures a modest 1400 square feet (about 130 square meters), but feels almost palatial in scale thanks to visual tricks cooked up by the designers. Take cues from what they’ve done here, and you might be able to do the same with a much tinier space.

The designers wanted to preserve the historical elements of the flat, which is named “Lelefante.” They maintained the original envelope with its cross-shaped wall system and 12-foot ceilings, but in addition to adding a loft (one of our favorite space-saving design tricks), they also brought in a plethora of mirrored surfaces that manipulate the viewer’s sense of where rooms start and end, “an attempt in the wake of the best Baroque tradition to capture the infinite,” as Cavejastudio explains.

The star of the show is a “technical piece of furniture,” a new built-in element that contains a walk-in closet and pantry and provides the basis for the loft. This element is “covered with mirrored panels interspersed with regular joints that dematerialize their presence, making it light and mysterious, but at the same time capable of reflecting light in the space less naturally illuminated by the sun throughout the floor.”

Even in photos, the effect is remarkable. Despite taking some of the living room area away to create the new closet and pantry, the space feels enormous, visually expanded by the mirrored panels. The room’s most beautiful elements like the gorgeous hand-painted doors are thus multiplied. You almost can’t tell which ones are the real doors and which ones are an illusion.

The black frames of the mirrors in the living room are visually repeated in the glass wall separating the bathroom from the bedroom. In the kitchen, frameless cabinetry painted a muted gold achieves a similar minimalist and graphic effect that contrasts beautifully with the soft ornamentation of the original tray ceilings.

“Both in the living room and in the respective bedrooms, it is the furniture itself that becomes the spatial regulating devices; in particular, the position of the kitchen block on the platform emphasizes the entrance-living room axis typical of the noble floors, while the wardrobe for the daughters’ bedroom is modeled on the ceiling beams, becoming a divider of the intimate space,” the designers say.

“The chrome plating of the furnishings follows a palette derived from the colors of the existing frescoes, in order to establish a dialogue with them; [this] relationship is taken from the spotlight lighting system which, by illuminating from the bottom upwards, emphasizes and enhances its presence.”

The post Mirrors and Spatial Illusions Make a Historic Italian Apartment Look Bigger Than It Really Is first appeared on Dornob.

Green, known for directing such movies as Pineapple Express, Joe, and the 2019 remake of Halloween, found the 1,250-square-foot loft shortly after the release of Halloween and was bursting with ideas of how he wanted his new place to look. Enter Lembo —familiar with the building where Green’s loft had sat untouched for over 30 years, and, most importantly, a lover of cinema.

Their connection was immediate. Green describes himself as “[being]…drawn to that weird place where nature and industry meet,” a sentiment no doubt inspired by the overgrown, dilapidated buildings found in the Arkansas and East Texas neighborhoods of his childhood. He’s also drawn to Stanley Kubrick, an iconic director known for his distinctive sets that pushed the limits between reality and sensory overload, often with the help of saturated colors and mind-bending twists. Though Kubrick’s films run the gamut from dystopian to satirical, what inspired Green and Lembo initially was one of late director’s most well-known movies: 2001: A Space Odyssey.

What emerged was a spacey vibe underscored by lots of steel and glass, changing colors throughout the day to create a fantastically futuristic environment that’s still approachable and comfortable. The spaciness doesn’t create a feeling of alienation; rather it acts as a pleasing contrast to the otherwise plush and cozy home.

The living room is the epicenter of the Kubrick-inspired decor, with a fireplace wall that evokes the shape and look of the distinctive monolith from 2001. Lembo explains that they “approached it like a floating plane.” And truly, it does seem to almost hover, as it both dominates the room yet somehow complements it perfectly.

This may also have something to do with the room’s distinctive wall prints, the 20-foot long deep-plum colored sofa, or the kitchen mirror reflecting a spacey round light to create the illusion of depth – which itself bears an odd resemblance to the same film’s “Discovery One” spacecraft.

The second bedroom, which “looks like an escalator mall in the ‘80s,” according to Green, is replete with dichroic glass that appears to shift in color throughout the day. Pinks, oranges, and shades of green shine through like magic, further completing the futuristic vibes that permeate the rest of the apartment – sometimes more subtly, like the wavy mirror above the main bedroom’s bed, and sometimes more obviously, like the kitchenette that resembles a spaceship enclave with its small, square cabinets and sharp, angular corners.

Green admits to telling Lembo, “Let’s go too far and see what’s realistic.” And Lembo, himself an imaginative, intrepid designer who likes to play with shapes and colors, was all too happy to oblige. The result is a spacey NYC retreat where Green can recharge, “write, listen to music, read, cook, and rest.” In other words, a home that even HAL 9000 would approve of.

Images courtesy of Eric van den Brulle

The post This Director’s New York City Loft was Inspired by Stanley Kubrick, and It Really Shows first appeared on Dornob.

Back then, you could buy a brownstone for a mere $20,000. A lot has changed in the 50-plus years since, not the least of which is the neighborhood’s affordability for artists. One deteriorating paper factory that was turned into makeshift artist apartments in the 1980s is now in the process of being renovated into full-fledged luxury apartments, including architecture firm OSSO’s Boerum Hill Loft.

As you can probably imagine, after decades of industrial use, abandonment, and then reclamation as gritty studios, the building already had a lot of character, but it also needed a lot of love to elevate it to modern standards of living. The client, Google executive Malik Ashiru, had a vision for the space that would require completely gutting it. While he waited for the city to review the permits, Ashiru took a sabbatical from work, traveling all over Africa, Europe, and Asia.

“The moment they told me the approval was almost done,” Ashiru told Dwell, “I was on an airplane back.”

The firm decided to keep as many original elements as they could, including exposed brick walls with old painted signs still visible in some areas and a striking black metal spiral staircase. In before-and-after photos of the loft renovation, you can see how OSSO’s new walls, floors, and other surfaces augment the space without significantly changing its historical feel.

One load-bearing brick wall was removed to open up the living area, replaced by a massive steel beam that’s become the standout feature of the room. There’s also a step up into this slightly elevated space from the adjacent dining room and kitchen, taking advantage of the three generously sized windows on the front wall.

White-painted drywall and a melange of oak, maple, and American walnut wood surfaces soften the apartment and make it feel lighter and brighter. The original spiral staircase now leads to the second-floor bedroom, bathroom, and an outdoor terrace, while a second, ladder-style staircase in the kitchen offers access to a lofted, plywood-lined guest bedroom.

OSSO Architecture, a New York City-based firm founded in 2017 by Margot Otten and Douglas Segulja, worked with Ashiru to design and furnish the space with features like a wood island, new Bosch appliances, and an alcohol-burning hanging fireplace by Fireorb, which itself meets all New York City’s strict rules about ventilation.

Cities are like living organisms, constantly changing and evolving. While we’d love to see a lot more projects converting cool old structures into affordable housing, it’s nice to see renovations that honor the character and history of their original buildings and the neighborhoods around them – projects that work hard to preserve architectural elements instead of merely replacing them with something new.

The post OSSO Architecture Turns Old Paper Factory Into Hip Brooklyn Loft first appeared on Dornob.

For one publishing professional in Milan, the solution was to make her living space more flexible. Her apartment is set within a historic 1930s building in the city’s Viale Doria neighborhood and packed with gorgeous original architectural features, but it wasn’t exactly ready to become her primary place of business. She enlisted the help of architect Elena Martucci to add some new features that disguise or reveal various functions as they’re needed.

Sacrificing a significant amount of floor space to an office didn’t feel like an option, and maintaining the original floor plan was a top priority. Martucci came up with a brilliant concept in reply, removing a long corridor wall to open the living room to the entryway and adding a series of massive cabinets that match the look of the space. The biggest one, lacquered in matte white, serves as a pleasant, neutral backdrop for the dining room and kitchen, allowing them to function as meeting areas with a professional ambiance when needed.

As unreal as it may seem, that cabinet now houses a home office, laundry room, storage room, refrigerator, wine cellar, and other appliances. When it’s all closed up, visitors walk in to see a living room that doubles as a lobby and the dining room/meeting area, all exuding a homey feel without revealing all the small, distracting elements of domestic life. A long surface pulls out of the kitchen island to extend the workspace. The entrance door has also been expanded to double its former size for a spacious feel, and an additional new cabinet has become a coat closet for both residents and guests while also acting as a partial room divider.

Martucci made changes to other areas of the home, too. A new walk-in closet makes the master bedroom more functional, while the owner’s young son now has a fun soccer-themed bedroom with walls mimicking the stands of San Siro stadium and a “goal net” acting as a built-in hammock.

Aesthetically, the loft maintains its antique character, but it’s now augmented by a modern edge. Rooms that were once closed up by the corridor are now open to each other, though they remain visually separated by dramatic iron frames. Small details by interior design firm Antenor de Almeida of Arcarreda bring it all together in the living room, like the way the new closet cabinet mimics the rounded shapes of the original archways.

Data firm Global Workplace Analytics estimates that 25 to 30 percent of the workforce will be working from home multiple days a week by the end of 2021. What that looks like for you might vary dramatically from this high-end loft renovation, but there are definitely some ideas here offering great inspiration. What if, for instance, some of those cabinets slid on tracks, offering a compact office when needed and hiding out of the way the rest of the time? Could you frame out a new closet-style office in a corner of your living or dining room? There really are all sorts of possibilities to be considered.

The post 1930s Apartment in Milan Gets a Work-From-Home Renovation first appeared on Dornob.

Vienna-based architectural studio Smartvoll peered into an empty industrial building that once housed soldiers and a tank station and saw something wholly unexpected. Within this simple oblong building, with its weathered bricks and hard concrete floors recalling decades long past, the architects envisioned a futuristic open-plan loft. They submitted their proposal to an international contest that called for an adaptation of the space into a luxurious residence within the larger Panzerhalle complex and won, and it’s not hard to see why.

At the epicenter of the new space is a minimalist kitchen contained within a 23-foot-long block, which itself is flanked by a pair of sweeping concrete staircases. Made of black lava stone, this monumental cabinet features a planting area for herbs and individual spaces for food preparation, cooking, and dining. A table pulls out of one end on demand. Above it soar the wing-like platforms of the gallery level, which follow the contours of the building and offer access to more private spaces.

The dramatic staircases split off in three directions. Smartvoll explains that they shouldn’t be seen as merely functional ways of accessing various levels of the home, but rather “as an electric spatial experience.”

“The stairs are an architecture within the architecture,” they continue. “Concreted in-house, the engineering is being exhausted in all respects. Tender objects with minimal dimensions but tremendous spatial impact. Something that does not allow for competition: besides the concrete, only subtle, semi-transparent materials are being used, such as Profilit to separate the guest area and curtains for the bedroom…Every other piece of furniture seems to be integrated into the construction. An unalterable picture [that] celebrates only free space.”

Everything about the loft seems to float. The staircase hovers above the kitchen, creating a lightweight roof that belies its own solidity. The curtains that delineate the bedrooms waft in the breeze. A bookcase comes out of the brick wall near the back of the home and hangs down into the ground floor below. Even the shower feels weightless, having been projected into the main space as an open glass box. Nothing about the Loft Panzerhalle is meant for the shy and reserved. Its boldness is what sets it apart from top to bottom.

“At the lower level, the room is connected to two balconies. However, even this façade aligns itself with the carriers of the concrete sculpture in the slant; the balconies look like additional alcoves of the overall concept. They feature a contemplative zen garden, including a grassy knoll, a jasmine tree, and a classic [relaxation] terrace.”

These outdoor spaces offer views of the rest of the Panzerhalle complex, including a market space that was also renovated by Smartvoll and several restaurants, salons, event spaces, and a co-working facility, all of which are unified by their buildings’ original brick facades.

The post Former Army Barracks Transformed Into an Extraordinary Modern Loft Apartment first appeared on Dornob.

Japanese architects mtka found a creative compromise while renovating a 20-year-old single family home in the Kodaira neighborhood of Tokyo. The ground floor contains the bedrooms and bathroom, while the upper floor is a completely open-plan living space. The new owners, a couple with two children, felt like they could use a little more room for the kids to play.

With its sloping roof, the home didn’t have enough ceiling height for a full third floor, and adding a conventional loft on the higher side would have cut off natural light to the rest of the space. The design team’s workaround is pretty brilliant. As they put it, they changed the flow of the house with a “maximal ellipse,” a mezzanine level with a giant oval cutout that maintains the spacious feel of the high ceilings while creating a new inhabitable surface.

This new level is almost flush with the lower side of the ceiling, but provides 5.9 feet (1.8 meters) of head space on the higher side, just enough for the inhabitants to stand up. Not only does its unusual shape help keep the south wall of windows open to the rest of the living area, but it also provides structural support. On the higher side of the home, it’s a loft; on the lower side, it’s a shelf.

“By putting a single maximal object in this large studio, I thought of updating the flow of people, the flow of power, the flow of wind, and the flow of lights and creating an architecture suitable for a new family,” says mtka co-founder Murayama Toru. “Therefore, a super-elliptical perforated ceiling was inserted at a level of 1.8 meters in the horizontal material of the south window. Since the center of gravity of the space is based on the south side, the center of gravity of the living room, which had no base, was pulled to the center, creating various places around the ellipse.”

“The ceiling is neither as thick as a wooden floor, nor as thin as a suspended ceiling. [Built] from an existing wooden construction, it is an autonomous and substantial object. And the oval stairwell is empty without any substance. Standing on the floor of the living room on the second floor, the edge of the ceiling, with a thickness of 101 millimeters and a height of 1.8 meters, is recognized as a single endless line, which makes it look like a large horizon.”

Building codes in many countries would at least require a safety railing around the opening, eliminating the ability to sit at the edge, but it’s still doable. The elliptical opening gives the home some visual interest by incorporating a rounded shape within an otherwise rectilinear box, but it always avoids overpowering the rest of the space.

The post Japanese Home Renovation Features Elliptical Cutout Mezzanine first appeared on Dornob.

That task is, perhaps, a tad easier when your tastes lean toward minimalism. But what happens when you like things to be a little more classical, ornate, and colorful but still want your space to feel harmonious? London-based STUDIOLAV took on the challenge to design a loft in SoHo for a couple with exactly that sense of style.

If you’ve never worked with an interior designer before, the firm’s description of how they got started on this project provides a pretty interesting glimpse into the process. In order to please their clients, designers first have to figure out what they’re going to like.

They explain: “As citizens of the world, we live and experience the whole world as our home. We carry our identities and value our inheritance. At the same time, the connection with new cultures is something we are longing to explore and experience. Collectors of experiences, the citizens with a multicultural identity desire to creatively experiment with their interim habitat, to create an environment that visually reflects their eclectic personality and lifestyle. After meeting the owners of this SoHo loft in Manhattan, New York, we got inspired by their diverse background and vibrant personalities, and the concept for the interior started quickly forming into a solid idea.”

“Their intriguing collection of contemporary fine art and photographic artworks was the one of the first things we came across in an attempt to understand the clients’ aesthetics and temperament. Researching and working with them from the very beginning, we created a space that would work both as a home [and] as a place to socialize and work from.”

“A flexible and well-thought layout, along with a curated selection furniture and accessories, has been a key ingredient to further enriching the unique aesthetic of this contemporary abode. The challenge here was to define the different areas and functions: living area/lounge, formal dining room, kitchen, workspace/study, and gym without compromising the openness of the space and the warmth of the morning rays.”

Your taste in art can definitely reveal a lot about you, so it’s cool to hear that STUDIOLAV used that as the jumping-off point for their design. In the finished product, you can see how the modern-meets-classical pieces displayed on the loft’s exposed brick walls have informed the mood and color scheme of the entire space. While the furnishings are clearly modern, their shades, textures, and materials complement the more antique and baroque imagery.

Ultimately, the loft feels highly individualistic — you can’t just buy interiors that look like this straight out of a catalog. And though the open space has to house so many different functions, like dining, entertaining, and working, the areas dedicated to each one are clearly defined. It’s easy to imagine guests gathering in small clusters within each space, just as the owners desired.

The post Classical Art Collection Inspires a Modern NYC Loft Design first appeared on Dornob.

Classic collides with contemporary and historic meets modern under the roof of one unbelievably cool townhouse property – part infill project, part retrofit, part adaptive reuse, this is a dream space filled with secret rooms for people who love cozy remodeled lofts and private luxury interiors all at the same time.

Looking at it from the outside, you’d never guess what this unassuming exterior holds. This unusual remodel project proves you should never judge a book by its cover.

Beneath peeling paint and crumbling red bricks on the front of this historic row-house facade lies an incredible residence, reinforced with stunning steel supports and remodeled inside and out with modern materials, furniture and fixtures.

Along the roof, a movable glass enclosure creates a pleasantly-ambiguous indoor-and-outdoor area that bridges the open gap in the (elongated and narrow) plan from front to back, resulting in something that works as an exterior garden or interior greenhouse.

New wood shelving stretches from wall to wall in the renovated structure, while industrial metal bookcases and staircases line the spaces and pierce from one room to the next.

Exposed wood beams and rafters, worn red brick and metal pipe railings manage to combine a sense of coziness and warmth with an overall mixed industrial, somewhat harsh and cold aesthetic.

The bedroom, bathroom and kitchen all contain a strange combination of old and new – raw and rustic furnishings and bare-bone fixtures alongside the latest appliances and clean contemporary additions to otherwise retro areas.

Photographed by Dujardin Filip, House 43 by the firm OWI / Office for Word and Image may be have one of the most impressive interiors ever created within an unassuming and humble townhouse shell – a series of rooms that mix old and new in ways that are both clever and classy, appealing to architecture lovers of all kinds.

The post Surprising Condo Remodel Full of Secret Rooms first appeared on Dornob.

A reboot of an earlier series entitled Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the hit Netflix original series follows five stylish gay men as they give what could be characterized as “whole life makeovers” to selected subjects. Consisting of food and wine expert Antoni Porowski, fashion expert Tan France, culture expert Karamo Brown, design expert Bobby Berk, and grooming expert Jonathan Van Ness, the team excels at drawing tear-jerking emotional narratives out of each makeover, and the results of their efforts are almost always astounding.

Naturally, it’s Bobby who plays the biggest role in contributing to the design of the loft spaces, where the team gathers to watch the big reveal of each episode. While the first two seasons were set in Atlanta, the latest takes place in Kansas City, necessitating a fresh set that reflects the quintet’s modern yet approachable style.

Bobby wanted the latest loft to be both beautiful and functional. Collaborating with both West Elm and Queer Eye production designer and stylist Tommy Rouse, he transformed an open loft space in the city’s Firestone Building into a cozy hangout with multiple vignettes spread throughout the room.

“The loft was a big open space before we used it, so I wanted to create a space that was not only functional for what we needed to use it for, but also had different areas that allowed the space to feel more familial and comfortable,” Bobby says. “Creating different vignettes throughout the room in a cohesive color palette allows me to define the different spaces without having them feel separate from each other.”

“I love the West Elm Pictograph media console that we used under the TV. Finding a good decorative piece that also gives a lot of storage is not always the easiest, and this one does both. Open spaces can be overwhelming for people. They can often go cold and sterile, so I like to bring in warmth through texture and subtle color like we did here as well as some wood elements like you see in the credenzas and as accents on the furniture.”

You can check out more shots of the loft and shop many of these products, including the Andes Sectional, Leather Coral Counter Stools, LED Hoop Chandeliers, and Terrace Bar Cart, at West Elm’s blog Front + Main. You might also want to check out a fun behind the scenes post they wrote about filming a scene at their Kansas City retail location.

“When you come into someone’s home and completely transform their space, it also allows you to transform and change their life,” says Bobby. “I feel so lucky that I am able to help redesign the spaces that our heroes live in, and work with them to teach them how having an organized and clean space can translate directly into their daily life. Surrounding ourselves with things that make us happy allows us to bring that same feeling into the rest of our lives. But that happiness doesn’t have to mean something you buy — it could simply come through by changing around the layout of your room or organizing your room to get rid of what you don’t use. Happiness starts in your home, and I love that I can help our heroes find that.”

If you love interior design and you’re not already watching this feel-good reality series, grab some popcorn and prepare to binge (and take more notes from Bobby). Seasons one, two, and three are currently streaming on Netflix.

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Of all the different designs that have tried to make every square inch of a small interior space count, the most effective is undoubtedly the freestanding room-within-a-room. These structures often plug several furnishings, like lofted beds, closets, drawers, shelving, desks and sometimes even bathrooms or kitchenettes, into a single existing space with minimal fuss. Rooms-within-rooms are ideal for lofts, warehouses, and can make for great dividers in studio apartments with high ceilings. Plus, they won’t require any expensive renovation should you want to remove or relocate them to change up your space’s layout.

Some structures, like MIT’s City Home, expand and transform to increase the size of the rooms its tenants want accessible at any given time. Others create entirely enclosed private spaces within a larger room, such as Dan Hisel’s Z Box. A few modular rooms are even designed to be portable and roll around on casters for easy repositioning. In a new design by the architects at CHA:COL, a Los Angeles apartment’s central feature acts as a creative hub.

The loft, named “Writer’s Block” by the architects, is inhabited by a New York Times best-selling author and a game designer who needed a small urban getaway to recover from long book tours and business trips. The  unit is now equipped with fully-functional living and office spaces but began as a beautiful blank slate of brick walls, wooden ceilings, and angular support beams. The interior’s initial simplicity inspired the architects to incorporate a geometric motif into their design. CHA:COL explains, “Taking cues from their writing, gaming and fantasy environment background, we drew inspiration from the Escher-like geometries of the game Monument Valley. The game is unique in its ability to transform two-dimensional lines and shapes into a three-dimensional environment that a player inhabits.”

“Similar to the way [characters in the game] move through tilted planes and angular walls, we envisioned the clients moving through a central creative area (the angular 3D entertainment area on one side and the silent writers desk on the other side) into the lounge (the inlaid carpet bands emerge out of the custom millwork piece and climb up the walls in a bold graphic mural).”

By attempting to marry the graphic and the spatial, CHA:COL eventually came up with the “Writer’s Block,” which acts as a creative workhorse for writers and game designers alike. Each person now gets a workspace that meets their individual needs and a sense of privacy without having to isolate themselves from the rest of the loft. The modular all in one prefab loft volumes in “Writer’s Block” offer a clever manifestation of a shared creative space in which concentration, inspiration, and interaction are all of the utmost importance. Imagine how different the loft would look and feel if the designers had instead chosen to separate the couple by creating two small, walled-off office areas.

“It was heartening to hear from the clients post-occupancy, that they love using the space extensively for their sketching, writing and musical work, and hang out there to collaborate often between tours and travels,” the architects happily report.

The post Modular All in One Home/Office Loft first appeared on Dornob.

With just 312 square feet to work with, creating an interior design layout that accommodates all of a couple’s basic needs without feeling cramped and cluttered is a serious challenge. When expanding isn’t an option, as in this nineteenth-century building in Wroclaw, Poland, you have no choice but to find a way to fit a kitchen, bathroom, living area, bedroom and storage within confines that can seem impossibly small. But architecture firm 3XA put pretty much every major space-saving design technique to work for this renovation, resulting in a space that feels airy, elegant and well-organized.

Use of vertical space: the most immediately obvious feature of this apartment is the addition of a sleeping loft set over the entranceway. This L-shaped addition forms a platform and tends up the wall, jutting out slightly into the living space in a way that not only adds precious extra inches to the bedroom area, but also adds architectural interest to the primarily white apartment.

Multi-functionality: the narrow, space-saving stairs leading up to the loft double as a bookcase, organizing the residents’ reading materials, trinkets and a stereo system. In the hallway, opposite from the bathroom, built-in shelving and clothes rods create a closet area that’s also providing structural support for the loft platform.

Open plan: only the bathroom is enclosed, with every other element of the apartment open to the rest. With no doors or interior walls blocking off individual areas, you can take in the entire space all at once, making it feel larger than it really is. In this case, tucking the kitchen away in the corner maintains a visual connection between this vital function and the living room, encouraging conversation, but the bed isn’t directly exposed to cooking odors.

Restrained color palette: black and white contrast with the textural chipboard that makes up the loft, stairs and dining table, while white-washed wood floors retain a sense of character and warmth with minimal visual distractions. The black accent wall in the kitchen anchors the space. In an apartment this small, you can see how the use of too much color could create a chaotic atmosphere that’s not exactly conducive to relaxation.

A sense of movement and flow: the path from the door through the living room to the kitchen is clearly defined, with lots of open floor space. The furniture is all in scale for the space and tucked into spots where it won’t be in the way of traffic. Creating little nooks for defined functions, like how the placement of the desk divides the living area from the entrance, helps the space feel orderly.

Focal points: select architectural or design elements that you want to stand out, whether you prefer bold accents like bright pops of color or something more subtle. 3XA opted for the latter here in leaving certain nineteenth century features intact to contrast with the modern materials and finishes, including scrolled trim and an original door. Painting them white balances the focus between these elements and the chipboard additions. What’s the true focal point of the room? We would argue that nothing stands out more than those double-duty stairs.

The post Lofty Vision: Clever Tiny Apartment Design first appeared on Dornob.

When aiming for a minimalist aesthetic with maximum function in a small space, built-ins are often the best bet, especially when they take advantage of high ceilings. Lofts are a popular and highly effective way to add extra usable square footage to a structure with a small footprint without requiring extensive renovations, which is crucial when working with historic properties. In this case, Antwerp-based design firm Studio Farris found a solution that makes use of a small barn in Flanders, Belgium, keeping the outside of the structure intact while visually expanding the interior. The new loft is both dynamic and functional, bringing a sculptural quality to the space.

The studio restored the building’s original brick facade, giving it a new roof in keeping with its original design and replacing all of the windows with new, larger expanses of glass to bring daylight inside. From the outside, it still looks like an ordinary stable of the sort you can find all over the Belgian countryside, but you’d never guess what the inside looks like before stepping through the door.

“The original stable, dating back to the early 1900s, was composed of several small rooms on two floors,” says Studio Farris. “With their renovation, the architects wanted to transform this fragmented space by enhancing the perception of the total form of the building. So they completely emptied it by demolishing the rooms and the first floor. Within this outer brick envelope, they created an inner one made out of concrete. A new ‘box’ with a serene atmosphere was designed and inserted into the original volume.”

Rather than dividing the available space once again by adding a second floor, which would have made the interior feel dark and small, the designers custom-designed an unusual modern centerpiece that functions as both the support for a small loft, a staircase, and an oversized piece of storage furniture. This autonomous addition has a minimal impact on the integrity of the original structure, but makes a maximum visual impact, giving it a sense of dynamic energy.

The building itself acts as a shell for this freestanding volume, needing no other walls or internal supports that would break up the space. The addition is made of stacked wooden beams with a sturdy, grounded feel, but the arrangement also implies movement, as if the beams could slide in and out independently in an oversized game of Jenga. The object creates a series of new interior spaces, including a meeting area beneath the platform and an elevated office with desks positioned opposite windows framing views of the rural landscape.

This built-in furniture system is perfect for stacking books, creating a mini library for the use of those who work within. Though this renovation was created specifically for use as an office, it’s easy to imagine this same system customized for residential use as well, holding displays of personal items in addition to books. When the structure’s current life as a workplace comes to an end, the addition can be disassembled, with the beams recycled or reused for a new project.

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