Finding space where there is none… Creating a mezzanine at home is an exploration in design exploiting every last centimeter. Not always feasible, the mezzanine that’s typically carved out just below the roof or ceiling is, for all intents and purposes, an added room expanding the floor plan. With a little creativity and luck — a tall space remains an essential feature — the mezzanine can be many things: a bedroom, a guest room, a walk-in closet or a utility room. The important thing is to get the measurements right. With that, we present 8 ideas for an open loft to expand the domestic horizon and better manage your existing space.
Micro-Apartment With a Loft
Can you live (well) in just 11 m2? If you get claustrophobic just thinking about it, check out this micro-apartment in Berlin, and maybe you'll change your mind. Designed by Kerrin Wendtland and Joana Schröder of studio.kejo, the studio solves the space problem with two winning strategies: flexibility and multifunctionality.
Upsetting the layout is an open mezzanine arranged at the top of a narrow staircase. Here, a set of stairs built into the wall leads directly to the bedroom area. Minimum effort, maximum yield
Small House With a Wood Loft
A tiny house with a loft and a forest view, just a step away from the hustle and bustle of the city: Mini Treehouse is a wooden treasure chest renovated by NCDA studio in Hong Kong. Originally, the rooms in this 35 m2 mini-apartment were divided and arranged all on one level. NCDA's solution? Tear down the one interior wall and take advantage of the three-meter height to separate the living and sleeping areas, focusing on an open plan in the former with an essential sense of intimacy in the latter.
The result of the renovation stagger the living space over two floors, effectively duplicating the available layout and splitting the living and bedroom. Crucial to the realization of the loft? The generous height.
From a Former Warehouse to a Loft With a View
This singular space is part of the ground floor in a newly constructed building designed by Arquitectura G — garnering the FAD award in 2022 — and is located in Barcelona's effervescent Poblenou district, full of bars, cafes and even factories renovated into home offices and design exhibitions. The space was an empty 40 m2 warehouse with high ceilings and a garden in the back.
How, then, was it transformed into a house with an open loft? Several storage elements that are typically used in the kitchen were used as a base to build a stepped connection leading to an upper level. The choice to move, again, the staircase element to the wall made it possible to maximize the space available in the center.
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Studio Apartment With an Open Loft
Here, space isn’t measured in meters, but in ideas. With the right solutions, in fact, even the smallest of apartments can aspire to the great hallmarks of quality living: multifunctionality, comfort and customization. Proof can be found in this 38 m2 studio apartment in Milan, which embraces the title of a loft apartment, getting the biggest return for a small space through its meticulous design.
The heart of the project is its open loft carved out above the sofa. Here, a small staircase leads to the bed, tracing a plane that duplicates the space in mid-air.
Ideas for a Loft Apartment
On one side, a the view of the Colosseum, marking time and the succession of eras with the cadenced rhythm of its arches; on the other side, the 18th-century statues that dominate the façade of the Basilica of St. John Lateran. With a single glance, looking out from the terrace, visitors can embrace a span of time that ranges from the first century A.D. to the Age of Enlightenment. This is Rome, after all, where you can navigate between different times and cultures. The view is that of a house on top of an Umbertine palace, which picks up the stratified heritage of the Capital to project itself into a contemporary and personal dimension. Here, a 150 m2 apartment in the center features the architectural work of Studio Strato, which aims to create environments that are as fluid as they are rich in personality.
The loft, quite small in size, houses a bed and storage space. The balustrades that seamlessly follow the lines of the staircase frame the limits of an exposed alcove.
Small House With a Loft Bedroom
Climbing up and down across just 36 m2, a palette of soft whites is surprisingly tinged with a light apricot. Here, the residential project recently completed by the 2BOOKS design team in Taipei tells the story of city living from a cleverly organized micro-world using color to alter the perception of space. “The previous owner of the house took advantage of the nearly four-meter-high ceiling to accommodate a mezzanine," the studio explains. "Although the layout allowed for more usable area, the overall space appeared dark and crowded, creating an uncomfortable feeling of oppression."
Key to the redesign was a rather large mezzanine that the designers dedicated to the bedroom.
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Villa With a Loft
"The Stonehouse is extremely solid on the outside, hollow and light on the inside." This is how architect Michela Ekström presents this monolith for living, made entirely of travertine cladding. “From afar it is an island, it looked like one of Munari’s stones,” says the designer. It's true, the project looks like a fortress to be conquered in order to live in the contemporary and essentiality, embracing a simple life The entrance is a marble threshold that fills the property with nature, while the space inside is kept almost hollow, like a cave sculpted in detail and tailored to human life. What's more, the emptiness of the space, together with the heights and refined stairways, create a continuous change of perspectives in which to lose yourself.
A Sweeping Loft
It’s a designer take on four floors of lofts in Casa MRGT. The renovation by Lamatilde studio presents a customized universe for a Canadian-born car designer based in the Savoy city.
Et voilà: 350 m2 with a loft that extends outside, morphing into a 250 m2 terrace with a view. Industrial and contemporary characters come together, where this living space becomes a puzzle of solids and voids respecting the origins of the structure. The open space is therefore realized through the sum of a series of geometric volumes punctuating the space.
