LOFTwall Separation Wall

Several months ago when we moved into our work/live loft, we realized we wanted to screen off certain areas from the view of clients visiting the architecture studio. Since the loft is mixed-use and houses an office, a mezzanine live space, a storage area, and my pottery studio, we needed several walls and screens. We built walls around the storage room and we put up corrugated metal to screen the mezzanine 'live' space. 

We decided, however, that we only wanted to partially screen off the pottery studio. A pottery workshop shares some similar characteristics with an architecture studio and proximity to someone working on clay or tinkering in a workshop can be an interesting concept for visitors and a motivating force for employees. But workshops are often cluttered and can't always be cleaned up when an unexpected visitor arrives. The logical solution for a partition was a lightweight, partially translucent, room divider. While searching online for room partitions, we stumbled across LOFTwall - a company that makes mod-looking movable separator walls that could be customized through the selection of different color panels and wall sizes. The walls are also VOC-free and the frames are made from recycled content and the wall components are recyclable.

It just so happened that at the time we discovered LOFTwall, they were having a contest to design a wall - the winner would receive a free LOFTwall! After consulting the architecture firm's design team and being advised that people get excited by red, I submitted my contest entry - a red and black wall with a translucent white panel in the center.

The LOFTwall Design Contest Entry

Voting was conducted on LOFTwall's facebook page and, thanks to the support of friends and fans, my entry made it through three rounds of voting and ultimately won! Now I could design my very own LOFTwall to use as a partition between the architecture studio and the workshop. 

We knew that the LOFTwall might have to be moved in the future for use in a reception area or to screen the conference table during meetings. So we decided that the wall should blend in with the overarching grey and white color palette of the office, let light filter through to the workshop, and not clash with the red kitchen. So we designed a grey, black and white wall with translucent panels and a two-sided dry-erase board that can be used for doodles in the workshop on one side and to convey ideas in the conference area on the other side.

Drawing on the Wall is Okay!

The LOFTwall arrived in three boxes with simple instructions on how to assemble the rails and panels with the provided allen wrench and screwdriver.

Unpacked & Ready to Assemble

First Row of Panels & Rails

Assembled and Ready to Move

It took all of 10 minutes or so to assemble and tighten the entire wall. Then we placed it next to the workshop. The modern materials and neutral colors blend perfectly with the space and the clear textured panels allow light into the workshop without revealing exactly what's behind the wall.

LOFTwall view from Conference Table

LOFTwall view from Workshop

The Space Plan (Part 1)

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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