The International Book Of Lofts

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.

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 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

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.

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.

A stunning series of what will be seven books on the lofts of Northern, Central and Southern European cities. Diversity is the thread running throughout the series: the reader is treated to an immense variety of lofts in a wide range of buildings. They have been converted with great ingenuity and imagination by a new breed of urban dwellers who have embraced the loft-living idyll. Enthusiastically eclectic, importing ideas gathered from travel or reading and using furniture from modern emporiums of design or found in junk shops, these loft dwellers have left the essential character and texture of their buildings intact while layering space in subtle ways so that volumetric grandeur is not lost. This tour gives the reader a glimpse of the inventiveness, vigor and pride employed in creating spectacular dwellings out of amorphous spaces. Beautiful photographs dominate, and the text is deliberately kept to a minimum. Those with a passion for achitecture will be in their element.