The Book Of Lofts

'The Big Book of Lofts' features more than 600 different design ideas covering every part of the loft, and then some. The styles focus on the most popular used by today's best interior designers.

This text presents examples of residential lofts in London, New York, Paris, Chicago, Berlin, Los Angeles and Milan. Whether in former warehouses, converted schoolhouses, suites of offices, or one-time woodworking shops, the lofts all represent contemporary design and living. Confronted by the challenge of dealing with hundreds or often thousands of feet of raw space, loft dwellers have responded by devising some interesting design solutions. Here are lofts with open, free-flowing spaces, loft divided into rooms or arranged on different levels, artist's lofts, and lofts that function as home offices.

A visual feast--the most stunning and creative residential lofts, from the cozily traditional to the rigorously avant-garde, from New York to Milan, L.A. to Berlin. More than 370 full-color photographs; 15 architectural drawings.

Lofts, by definition, are former commercial spaces that have been converted for residential use and living/working environments. But lofts, by design, are vast silent expanses, soaring arches, stalwart steel girders, massive beams, and all the powerful drama of a curtain-time stage set. The importance of urban loft design for the architectural and design world is highlighted in this collection of the finest, most dramatic of these transformed spaces.

In recent years it has become increasingly common to use very small uni-spatial apartments as living or working spaces. This kind of abode-also called the studio apartment-constitutes a great challenge for architects, designers and decorators in order to adapt and maximize the limited space to the user's requirements. Studio Apartments provides the reader with an ample guided tour of different types of studio apartments, all of recent construction. Focusing on the visual impression of the apartments, the book is an ample source of ideas and inspiration that readers can easily put into practice. The book shows to what limits imagination and creativity can be used to make the most of a limited amount of space in terms of functionality, comfort and attractiveness. All of the architectural projects included are less than 550 sq. feet.

"A rich narrative based on a review of thirty-one architectural schemes, this book inspects the social themes and design trends of the loft movement. Benefitting from full-colour photographs - many specially commissioned - and plans, as well as interviews with architects, developers and the loft dwellers from around the world, Lofts offers both a critical history and an intriguing visual record of this singular building type."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The loft is increasingly the residential image most identified with New York. Originally popularized by artists and designers, the enormous raw spaces, most often in old industrial buildings in lower Manhattan, have been laboratories for the creativity of architects. Some of the most striking and important residential design of the latter part of the twentieth century has been created for lofts. Celebrated design arbiter Mayer Rus has had unparalleled access to the most exceptional new projects. He has gathered a great variety of architects and designers -- all widely published in popular and trade magazines -- for the book: Henry Smith-Miller and Laurie Hawkinson, Peter Stamberg and Paul Aferiat, Architecture Research Office, and Deborah Berke. Paul Warchol's exquisite photographs, most taken especially for this volume, capture not only the design and details but the qualities of light, context, and history that make each loft unique. The engaging text highlights the designers, owners, and their residences, in addition to evoking the dramatic qualities of loft living.