After spending a bit of time in our industrial loft, it became relatively easy to determine which existing uses of space worked and which ones did not. Our loft has a downstairs and an upstairs. Because we intend to use the loft as an architecture studio that clients can visit and employees can work in we will use the downstairs as a work space and the upstairs as a live space. In order to do that, we need to correct the existing conditions.
Kitchen
When we moved into the loft, it had a "kitchenette" upstairs in the mezzanine. The mezzanine is the logical living quarters of the loft because the difference in elevation creates a naturally separate zone that can be made private, and the stairs form a control point/barrier against inadvertent intrusion by clients. The kitchenette, however, poses a problem because we don't want to share our sleeping quarters with a kitchen and we like to entertain people but prefer to not to have guests in a zone as personal as our bedroom. In addition, I need a kitchen for my employees. So the kitchen needs to be relocated away from the mezzanine and placed downstairs. Since I don't want it to overwhelm the workspace by being the main focal point, I am placing the kitchen under the natural alcove formed by the stairs where it can still be seen and be close to a dining zone away from the work stations. Below you can see the new walls I'm building in grey.
Visitor/Employee Restroom
One major problem posed by our loft layout is that the restroom is upstairs. We don't want clients and employees walking through our bedroom to use the toilet. One reason we chose this loft was that we happened to notice an existing toilet drain on the ground floor near the entrance and nearby water pipes. After confirming that the water supply is connected and the drains still work, I hired a plumber experienced in working with cast iron (the commercial norm) to run new plumbing to the new downstairs toilet/sink and the relocated kitchen. Below you can see the framing for the restroom and the broom closet. To the right is the new cast iron and copper plumbing; the copper and valves are for the bathroom sink and the copper then runs to the right to the new kitchen. The cast iron drains the kitchen and bathroom sinks - the higher level pipe is the vent pipe that goes to the roof.
Laundry
The mezzanine kitchenette we're removing has existing water lines and 220 volt power. Since we'd like our own laundry room, the area is the logical place to locate a washer and dryer. In addition, by locating a laundry nook upstairs, it will not only be close to our closet and clothes hamper, it will not be distracting or out of place in the work space if we wash clothes during work hours. To make the laundry nook, I am using the light gauge steel framing I salvaged from demolishing the wall downstairs. Below you can see the existing "kitchen sink" with the future laundry nook wall framing going up.
Bedroom Wall
The mezzanine has a big column on one side, so the bed has to go somewhere on the other side. The problem is, there are three big pipes running across the entire length of the other side. We like to call them "headbangers" because when you get in and out of bed, especially in the dark, you can crack your skull against them. So we're going to build a wall in front of the pipes to set the head of the bed against. We're leaving one big cast iron pipe exposed to express the industrial nature of the loft. We're going to put an access door in the wall for storage and access to the pipes in the event maintenance is required. As a major added bonus, the wall will form a sound attenuation barrier which will block noise from our neighbor who sometimes has to build movie sets at night. Below are the bedroom pipes before and after the wall framing.
Closet
The last thing that we needed to address was the area in the mezzanine between the closet and the bathroom. Sometimes when a person showers or dresses, they move from one zone to another. In a private home it's not a big deal, but in a work/live loft where a couple lives and where employees and clients may be present, it's not only potentially embarrassing to be seen in a state of undress, it's unprofessional. I am building a wall connecting the bathroom and closet areas so we can move freely between them and not worry about being seen.
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