When you think of a loft, you think: expansive spaces, austere materials, abundant natural light, central urban location. Arising halfway through the nineteenth century in the NewYork SoHo area, these constructions developed as the industrial zones were moved to the outskirts of the city, leaving these buildings located at the heart of the urban area in disuse. The young generation, especially artists, transformed these abandoned spaces into areas where they could establish a dwelling-cum-studio inexpensively, utilizing the space to match both domestic and artistic needs. Although these buildings did not always meet all of the desired conditions, they were gradually converted into ideal spaces without losing the original spirit of the building. Thus industrial heritage is combined with new models of apartments, integrated into the urban framework.
The loft concept has, over time, become an architectural inspiration. Thanks to its total integration and proliferation in large cities, the loft is no longer considered a new or alternative type of dwelling. Although there are still many lofts that serve as places to live and work, today more and more are used solely as a dwelling. Nowadays many constructions that are not technically true lofts incorporate conventional characteristics with personalized elements in order to achieve the loft aesthetic-polished cement floors, brick walls, visual beams and stone and iron finishes. These features, originally included due to lack of funds available to rehabilitate or adapt the space, have become the true essence of these types of dwellings.
The concept, as with the successive artistic movements, has evolved over time. The initial unity has developed towards plurality-large buildings have been completely rehabilitated or even newly built with the aim of housing various loft-type dwellings within. Some of these buildings have been designed with the different needs of each owner in mind, bringing together private and personal life by combining apartments as simple dwellings with other projects. The trend of conceiving different types of constructions inspired by the loft concept has also been applied to single-family houses, city dwellings or those on the outskirts whose structure is purely residential.
The book presents, in its three volumes, the different types of spaces that have evolved because of this phenomenon. With an aesthetic directly inherited from the industrial and factory era, the lofts have been converted into a passionate blend of past styles structured with the most innovative and avant-garde materials. A look at the most traditional constructions is followed by a variety of projects involving more than one unit and single-family dwellings, all of those united under the unique loft aesthetic.