Loft
Encyclopedia
Story
Story or Stories may refer to:*Story, a recounting of a sequence of events* Narrative* Bedtime story, a traditional form of storytelling, told to children to prepare them for sleep* Organization story, a narrative used in organization studies...
or attic
Attic
An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building . Attic is generally the American/Canadian reference to it...
in a building
Building
In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...
, directly under the roof
Roof
A roof is the covering on the uppermost part of a building. A roof protects the building and its contents from the effects of weather. Structures that require roofs range from a letter box to a cathedral or stadium, dwellings being the most numerous....
. Alternatively, a loft apartment refers to large adaptable open space, often converted
Upcycling
Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value....
for residential use (a converted loft) from some other use, often light industrial. Adding to the confusion, some converted lofts include upper open loft areas.
Attic
An upper room or storyFloor
A floor is the walking surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many-layered surfaces using modern technology...
in a building
Building
In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...
, mainly in a barn, directly under the roof
Roof
A roof is the covering on the uppermost part of a building. A roof protects the building and its contents from the effects of weather. Structures that require roofs range from a letter box to a cathedral or stadium, dwellings being the most numerous....
, used either for storage (as in most private houses), for a specific purpose, e.g. an "organ loft" in a church, or to sleep in (sleeping loft). In this sense it is roughly synonymous with attic
Attic
An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building . Attic is generally the American/Canadian reference to it...
, the major difference being that an attic typically constitutes an entire floor of the building, while a loft covers only a few rooms, leaving one or more sides open to the lower floor. In barns a hayloft is often larger than the ground floor as it would contain a year's worth of hay.
An attic loft can often be converted to form functional living accommodation (see loft conversion
Loft conversion
A loft conversion is the process of transforming an empty attic space into a functional room, typically used as either living accommodation or storage space. Loft conversions are one of the most popular forms of home improvement in the UK as a result of their numerous perceived benefits...
).
Loft apartment
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
buildings. When industrial developments are developed into condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
s instead of apartments, they may be called loft condominiums. The general term warehouse-to-loft conversions may sometimes be used for development of industrial buildings into apartments and condominiums. "Loft-style" may also refer simply to developments where a street-level business occupies the first floor while apartment "lofts" are placed below the first floor.
Sometimes, loft apartments are one component of municipal urban renewal
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
initiatives that also include renovation of industrial buildings into art galleries
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
and studio space
Studio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
as well as promotion of a new part of the city as an "arts district
Arts district
An arts district is a demarcated urban area, usually on the periphery of a city centre, intended to create a 'critical mass' of places of cultural consumption - such as art galleries, dance clubs, theatres, art cinemas, music venues, and public squares for performances. Such an area is usually...
."
Originally popular with artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
s, they are now highly sought-after by other bohemian
Bohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
s, and the gentrification
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
of the former manufacturing sectors of medium to large cities is now a familiar pattern. One such sector is Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's Meatpacking District. The adoption of the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance (2001) in the City of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
(primarily the Arts District) is another example of such legislation to encourage the conversion of no longer economically viable industrial and commercial buildings to residential loft communities. Such is the demand for these spaces that real estate developers have taken to creating ready-made "lofts" in urban areas that are gentrifying or that seem primed to do so. While some of these units are created by developers during the renovation of old buildings, a number of them are included in the floor plans of brand new developments. Both types of pre-fab loft offer buyers or renters proximity to urban amenities afforded by traditional lofts, but without perceived safety risks of living in economically depressed formerly industrial areas.
Real estate industry distinguishes between "hard lofts", which are former industrial buildings converted to residential or live/work use, and "soft lofts", which are loft-style residential buildings built entirely anew as described above.
Commercial loft
A commercial loft refers to upper story space, usually in a commercial or industrial building with higher ceilings; a second story area for storage or offices above may be added within the original space used by a previous business occupant, effectively becoming a mezzanineMezzanine
Mezzanine may refer to:* Mezzanine , an intermediate floor between main floors of a building* Mezzanine, in technology, can refer to a thin sheet of plastic insulating different parts of circuitry from each other in cramped environments, such as laptop interiors* Mezzanine board, or daughterboard,...
area within the commercial loft space. Such adaptation of loft space, can result in better operating efficiencies for ongoing light industrial, commercial and work/live use.
Live/work loft
A live/work loft is a space designed to house a resident and their business. This concept has been a vital part of the redevelopment of major downtown cities' inner cores. The concept of cutting costs on space, travel and more is essential in the live/work loft.Rigging loft
An elevated area or galleryLong gallery
Long gallery is an architectural term given to a long, narrow room, often with a high ceiling. In British architecture, long galleries were popular in Elizabethan and Jacobean houses. They were often located on the upper floor of the great houses of the time, and stretched across the entire...
in a shipyard
Shipyard
Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...
where workers stand while fitting rigging
Rigging
Rigging is the apparatus through which the force of the wind is used to propel sailboats and sailing ships forward. This includes masts, yards, sails, and cordage.-Terms and classifications:...
.
Parachute loft
A large, open, high ceilinged space where parachute riggers re-pack parachutes into parachute containers.Church architecture
Some churches have a choir loft, where the singersChoir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
stand or sit during services. Sometimes the church organ is located in a loft.
Loft conversions
It is fairly common to convertLoft conversion
A loft conversion is the process of transforming an empty attic space into a functional room, typically used as either living accommodation or storage space. Loft conversions are one of the most popular forms of home improvement in the UK as a result of their numerous perceived benefits...
all or part of a home into a loft to create an extra room in order to prevent needing to move to a new house. The most common additions are an extra bedroom or study. The attic area of a building tends to be unused, but when converted can add a large amount of floor space.
See also
- Fly loft
- Loft bed
- MezzanineMezzanineMezzanine may refer to:* Mezzanine , an intermediate floor between main floors of a building* Mezzanine, in technology, can refer to a thin sheet of plastic insulating different parts of circuitry from each other in cramped environments, such as laptop interiors* Mezzanine board, or daughterboard,...
- Warehouse DistrictWarehouse District-Canada:* Distillery District is located in Toronto, Ontario and is the largest collection of Victorian-era industrial architecture in North America.-United States :...