5 Innovative Ideas From a Live-Work Space in a Converted Toy Factory
Driven by a tight budget, architects get creative in transforming a couple’s work-focused loft in downtown Los Angeles
Redeveloped factories and downtown warehouses have been popular sites for lofts and live-work spaces for a while now, but this loft in a converted toy factory balances life and work in a way not usually seen.
An axonometric drawing, a 3-D drawing without perspective based on the floor plan, shows the existing loft in white and gray, with the elements the architects added in blue.
1. Atypical room sizes. The private living and sleeping spaces, including the bedroom, closets, sitting area and bathroom, take up only about 250 square feet; the entire loft has a 1,460-square-foot footprint. The homeowners, seen in these photos, live here full time, but they stressed that their primary space requirements centered on working and entertaining. “That led us to imagine designing a sort of a house within a house, a loft within a loft,” Pande says. The building was once a toy factory, “so we nicknamed the project Toy Loft,” he says.
The architects reduced the private living spaces to their essential sizes and built things on top of each other. The sleeping area sits above the living area and a closet is built into the side of the living area, with the bathroom concealed behind it. The remaining 1,200 square feet was left open for work and entertaining.
The architects reduced the private living spaces to their essential sizes and built things on top of each other. The sleeping area sits above the living area and a closet is built into the side of the living area, with the bathroom concealed behind it. The remaining 1,200 square feet was left open for work and entertaining.
2. Storage based on frequency of use. Since the homeowners work and live in the loft, they needed a mixture of storage types, and a lot of it. The architects spent a good amount of time designing the apartment to accommodate this.
A 70-square-foot storage closet under the lofted sleeping area houses most of the homeowners’ personal belongings. Designed like a library storage system, it features two rolling units on tracks that can be moved when needed. Items that aren’t used often can be stored in one unit, out of the way, whereas items needed every day can be stored in the other.
A 70-square-foot storage closet under the lofted sleeping area houses most of the homeowners’ personal belongings. Designed like a library storage system, it features two rolling units on tracks that can be moved when needed. Items that aren’t used often can be stored in one unit, out of the way, whereas items needed every day can be stored in the other.
The couple keep everyday work items in open cubbies and easy-to-access drawers in the center in the loft. The cubby steps store paperwork, lead to the sleeping area and double as overflow seating.
Your Total Home Organizing and Decluttering Guide
Your Total Home Organizing and Decluttering Guide
3. Design for dual use and spontaneity. The large kitchen island is handy for meetings and social gatherings, and its wood surface is good for drawing and eating on. The deliberate openness of the loft provides opportunity for spontaneous activities.
4. Innovation driven by a tight budget. The entire project cost about $75,000, Pande says, or about half what he estimates a project with these requirements would normally cost. “The budget was a key driver of this design solution, since it was extremely tight,” he says.
The designers ordered many of the components, including the kitchen cabinets, from Ikea. They replaced the cabinet fronts with custom fronts that added unique detailing without requiring entirely custom units. Anywhere Ikea pieces fit the space, the architects used them as a base, replacing some of the visible portions with custom wood pieces. They refinished everything in a sprayed lacquer, including the Ikea components, for a blended, richer look.
Cabinet fronts: Dunsmuir Cabinets
The designers ordered many of the components, including the kitchen cabinets, from Ikea. They replaced the cabinet fronts with custom fronts that added unique detailing without requiring entirely custom units. Anywhere Ikea pieces fit the space, the architects used them as a base, replacing some of the visible portions with custom wood pieces. They refinished everything in a sprayed lacquer, including the Ikea components, for a blended, richer look.
Cabinet fronts: Dunsmuir Cabinets
The sleeping loft’s engineering was another opportunity for cost-saving innovation. Working with a structural engineer, the architects meticulously calculated the load of the loft, the steps and the sideways movement of the unit and designed a cage-like structure out of light-gauge steel studs, rather than the typical steel-tube framing system this sort of feature would normally require. The structure is held together with plates and bolts rather than welded, so it weighs less than a typical steel structure and required fewer specialists to complete and fewer inspections. The following photo reveals the skeleton of the cage.
5. Simple, inexpensive materials blend custom with off-the-shelf. The architects used simple, clean materials for everything in the loft, custom or not, so there wouldn’t be a huge discrepancy between what they bought and what they made.
Exposed plywood, treated MDF with lacquer, drywall and cement board make up most of the finishes. “We like to celebrate those materials. They’re sturdy and they build everything,” Pande says, adding that his appreciation for these materials came while working for Frank Gehry.
Exposed plywood, treated MDF with lacquer, drywall and cement board make up most of the finishes. “We like to celebrate those materials. They’re sturdy and they build everything,” Pande says, adding that his appreciation for these materials came while working for Frank Gehry.
The loft when the project started, left, and after it was completed.
Architects: Chacol Inc.
Structural engineer: Sanjar Saljooghi, 3S Prime Engineering
General contractor: Alex Taslimi, Taz Construction
Millwork: Alex Taslimi, Taz Construction
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Architects: Chacol Inc.
Structural engineer: Sanjar Saljooghi, 3S Prime Engineering
General contractor: Alex Taslimi, Taz Construction
Millwork: Alex Taslimi, Taz Construction
Browse more homes by style:
Apartments | Barn Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Floating Homes | Guesthouses | Homes Around the World | Lofts | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Small Homes | Townhouses | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | Vacation Homes
Location: Downtown Los Angeles
Size: 1,460-square-foot loft with a 250-square-foot mini loft inside
Designer: Chacol
A husband and wife who work in design and visual arts hired the architecture firm Chacol last year to renovate a bare-bones loft in downtown Los Angeles’ Arts District. Their request was simple: Set aside the least amount of space possible for sleeping and private living and design the rest for working, entertaining and other activities.
“We felt like we could propose something pretty aggressive,” architect Apurva Pande recalls. Not only because the project was on a tight budget and in an unusual space, but also because the couple was so open about their wants. “They allowed us to explore the solution as we would have explored it for ourselves,” he says.
The architects responded with a mostly open living space for the public activities — kitchen, communal island and steps that double as stadium seating — with the spaces for private activities condensed into a mini loft within the loft, all designed and built in six months. “Designers designing for other artists is always a very special situation,” Pande says.