Studio Design

Now that the kitchen design is finished and in the process of being installed, we are ready to work on the layout of the architecture studio. This area will need to be flexible so it can be modified as the practice grows. This will be achieved with the use of modular furniture and a movable partition that can be reconfigured as the spatial needs of the practice evolve. Programmatic requirements for the design include a reception/lounge area, work stations, a conference room, and a workshop.

Floorplan with furniture layout

Through the use of 3D modeling, we are able to get an accurate view of how the spaces will be defined by the furniture layout.

Section view looking along south wall

Section view looking along north wall

The renderings help us determine if the layout, furniture design and color scheme work. In this case, the renderings helped us realize that we want to limit the red color scheme to the kitchen and not bring it in to the work area. The rendering also helped us fully realize how much a long line of wall cabinets will limit the studio's usable wall space, and we need open wall space to pin up conceptual designs and presentations for clients. We also would like to show artwork at various times, so we are going to eliminate the wall cabinets and just start out with base cabinets. We do, however, like the concept of a grey/black/white separation wall to screen the workshop. 

Now we begin the hard work of cutting and installing countertops and building desks and cabinetry. 

Kitchen Installation - Part I

After some months, the office kitchen has taken shape. The main function of this loft is that of an architecture-studio. The kitchen, therefore, has to be on the ground level away from the upper-level private quarters because it will be used by employees and serve as a design showcase and entertainment area for visiting clients. The area under the loft staircase was chosen because it forms a natural alcove, is not in the way of the space designated for the office work space and is along the same wall as existing drain lines at the front of the loft. The first step in building the kitchen was bringing water and electricity to the area. We designed the kitchen layout and marked the final cabinet measurements on the wall to serve as reference points for placing the new water lines, drains, and electrical outlets.

Copper Water Pipes, Cast Iron Drain & Electrical Conduit

The second step was building a new wall/alcove perpendicular to the main wall to serve as a place for the refrigerator to rest against and as a visual boundary of the kitchen area. The alcove had to be a very specific width to accommodate the refrigerator, the required airspaces at the top and sides of the fridge, and the tall cabinets that would frame the fridge. Since we didn't have the fridge or cabinets yet it was important to consult the manufacturers' cut-sheets for exact measurements. The width of the drywall also had to be kept in mind when we set up the steel framing, otherwise the alcove would have been too narrow once the drywall and mud was on. 

New Fridge Alcove Walls (Ctr)
Plumbing and Electrical on Left

With the completion of the walls around the new kitchen area, we were ready to install the fire-engine red cabinets. While the choice of cabinets and appliances seriously strained the firm's budget, we felt it was a necessary business expense. The architecture studio is intended to showcase the firm's design sensibilities as well as display different kinds of materials, casework, and modern appliances. We need clients to be interested and inspired, and kitchens generate a lot of interest because they are a central gathering spot associated with entertainment and comfort. An architecture firm's need to exhibit examples of design sensibility as well as the business need to host gatherings, talks, and various client functions where appetizers and drinks will be served means a showpiece kitchen is a necessary part of our business. It is the main trade fixture expense we have incurred thus far, although we were able to negotiate trade discounts for various of the materials and appliances.  

Cabinets After Installation.
Countertops & Island Siding Remain to be Done

The modern, red, glossy cabinets are eye-catching and have a commercial look that blends into a professional office environment. We designed the kitchen so that the components can be easily dismantled and removed, and the electrical and water lines are surface-mounted to avoid causing damage to the existing structure. 

 Office Micro (Top) and Small Oven

The next step is to install the counter tops, backsplashes, facing materials, sink, cooktop and exhaust hood. 

How to Rescue a Cat from an Industrial Catwalk

Industrial loft buildings contain all sorts of strange nooks, giant pipes, and random ledges left over from the original factory or warehouse. The building where our loft is located is connected to the adjacent four-story building by an industrial catwalk. Under the catwalk are a variety of huge cast-iron pipes used for water supply and drainage.

The Catwalk

For several days last week, we could hear the plaintive meowing of a cat. Despite investigating, we couldn't locate the cat. It turned out we couldn't find it because it was four stories above us stuck on top of a pipe under the catwalk. On the third day, someone realized where the cat was and called animal control. An attempt was made to use someone's boom lift to reach the cat, but it couldn't reach high enough. So the animal control officer called in a special team that is intended for just such a scenario - the Los Angeles Small Animal Rescue Team (SmART). The SmART team is an amazing group of volunteers from the Animal Control division who are trained in rescuing animals from difficult and precarious situations such as cliffs, trees, sewers, and swiftwater.

The SmART Team

The SmART team arrived in a special van filled with all manner of rescue equipment. Because the cat was four stories up and unreachable from the surface of the catwalk, the team donned their rappelling gear complete with harnesses, helmets, ropes, carabiners, and orange rescue bags for storing the animal during the rope descent. A crowd gathered as night fell. The rescue team gathered on the catwalk and anchored themselves for the descent. Two team members, Annette and Sean, rappelled off the sides of the catwalk and positioned themselves on either side of the pipes. The cat began to meow ever louder as they approached and, when Annette called it towards her, it complied. Getting the cat into the bag, however, was not as easy since even a desperate cat fears the thought of a four-story drop. Finally, the cat was pried off the pipes, cinched it into the bag, and the rescuers lowered themselves to the ground to much applause. The cat was taken to the local animal shelter for rehydration and we were warned someone would need to claim the cat within 5 days. Fortunately for the cat, Spike, her owner was found and he retrieved her the next afternoon.

The Catwalk Rescue
Photo Credit: Vern Evans

Team Members After the Rescue
Annette (right) Got the Cat in the Bag

So, if you live in Los Angeles and need help rescuing a small animal from a precarious situation, the SmART team is the team to call. They are a fantastic group of people from the Animal Services division who volunteer to do this tough side job. They don't get hazard pay for putting themselves at risk and they pay for all the special equipment themselves. The service is entirely FREE, and there is always need for donations of rescue gear to help them do their job.

Click here for List of Items Needed

See photos of the entire rescue, and learn more about the SmART team, on their facebook page. You can also follow them on Twitter.

Putting Up Walls - Drywall and Mud

Putting up walls is relatively easy during the framing phase if you are handy with a screw gun. But the drywall phase that comes after has to be one of the hardest and time-consuming parts of DIY construction. We have erected four sectors of walls: (1) the studio restroom and broom closet (2) the office storage room which on one end forms a kitchen wall (3) the wall that forms a laundry cubby and also serves as a TV/stereo wall for the living area, and (4) the upstairs sound wall/storage closet.

During the framing and drywall phase we were lucky to have the help of a friend who is a commercial framer. We also reused all the steel studs we salvaged from demolishing the existing broom closet and bathroom. We also found surplus insulation leftover from a jobsite that we purchased at a steep discount because it was damp from being left out in the rain. We bought 3 bales for $30 dollars, which would have cost over $200 new. Because fiberglass is inherently resistant to mold, all we had to do was open the bags and let the insulation dry out. We had to make multiple trips to the building supply store to buy more studs, sheets of drywall, drywall mud and knives, sanding poles, end caps, and doors. Putting up the walls ended up being a particularly expensive phase, in part because we paid for outside labor. Commercial steel framing requires attaching a steel track to the floor and ceiling by using a special gun equipped with .27 caliber blasting caps to shoot nails through the track and into the concrete. Special laser levels, tin snips, and vise grips make the job go much faster. We decided it was worth it to hire a professional who already had all the specialty tools and who was better than we were at laying track on the ceiling and cutting drywall to fit into odd-shaped spaces.

Even with our friend's help on the weekends, the walls have taken a month and a half to be framed, covered in drywall and mudded. We are now at the end of the mudding phase, which involves sealing the seams of the drywall with mesh tape, sealing the inside corners of the walls with paper tape, sealing the outside corners with metal corner strips, covering all these with four coats of joint compound and sanding between each coat. Drywall sanding requires repeatedly sanding the walls from floor to ceiling, dispersing a fine powder that travels all over the room and settles on all surfaces. It is necessary to wear cumbersome filtration masks and sometimes eye protection.

Our hard work is finally paying off as the final layout of the loft begins to take shape. The downstairs restroom, which used to be an oddly shaped room with an maladjusted door, is now a clean cube with two extra-tall doors, the tops of which align with the adjacent windows.

Restroom Before (Trapezoidal, No Ceiling, Door on West)

Restroom After (Rectangular, Doors on South)

The area that used to be the "kitchen" in the mezzanine is now a laundry cubby. The other side of the cubby wall will house a small entertainment center. The open area between the bathroom and the closet is walled off, ensuring total privacy.

Original Upper Level "Kitchen"

Framing Going Up for Laundy Area

Laundry Nook Completed, New Privacy Door at Rt

The mess of pipes that prevented the proper placement of a bed in the sleeping area is now a sound wall that buffers noise from the adjacent loft, allows us to place a bed against it, and creates a long storage closet.

Mezzanine Ceiling Pipes Before

Framing Up to Form Sound Wall

Sound Wall Complete, New Electrical

The next phase is painting the walls. Then we can install the kitchen, put away clutter in the storage room, and fine tune the space planning.

Featured Loft - The Sandman's Space

Industrial lofts generally require some kind of intervention in order to make them serve their new purpose. In the case of this loft, art is the main intervention. Prominent and colorful sculptures dictate the layout of the loft and dictate the observer's perception of the space. The overall impression is that of a surreal art gallery - private living quarters are unseen to the casual observer. Not only does the art define the space, it creates a truly memorable work/live environment.

"Sandman" is the artist alter ego of Sean Sobczak. Sean is a gifted sculptor who creates ethereal, large-scale sculptures of  undersea creatures and mythical beasts. They are made of intricately welded wire-frames covered in hand-sewn fabrics infused with twinkling lights. Because of their size, Sandman needed a space large enough to both store the sculptures and house the workshop necessary to build them. His loft, located in downtown Los Angeles in a brick and concrete building formerly used as a bottling factory, is 3000 sqft. and is comprised of a large main room and gallery as well as two bedrooms and a bathroom located in the rear of the long, rectangular space.

When Sandman moved into the loft, he needed a large space appropriate for working on and displaying his sculptures, so he removed two existing walls near the front entrance. He also added a wall in the rear of the loft to form a second bedroom, which enables him to have guests and roommates. He built floor-to-ceiling shelving in one corner of the loft to store his large stock of fabric rolls and materials. 

Giant Octopus at Left of Entry (storage space behind)

The open floor plan allows Sandman to use one side of the loft as a workshop and the other side as a gallery/socializing space. The socializing space is defined by two couches and coffee table placed towards the center of the room and supported on one side by smaller-scale sculptures. The kitchen area is defined by a long counter top and leads to the workshop space. The private bedrooms are accessed through an inconspicuous door in the rear of the loft, between the socializing area and the kitchen. 

Living Area Framed by Sculptures

View at Roll-up Door (Workshop to the left)

The loft has two means of ingress/egress and they are both located at one end of the loft - a door accessible from a hallway and a roll-up garage door opening onto a driveway and parking area. In order to let natural light and air into the space, the roll-up door is opened, revealing the gallery space to the public space outside.

View Looking Into Loft from Parking Area

View Looking out of Loft

As people drive or walk past, they see a sculpture of a large dragon that appears ready to leap out of the loft. Visitors who walk past or into the loft see all manner of giant sea creatures floating through the space and dragonflies hovering against the high ceiling. The size and multitude of luminescent and surreal forms creates a sense of being underwater or in an aquarium. In this case, the usual experience of an industrial loft is radically redefined by the art, making the art the main intervention in terms of defining a visitor's perception of the space.

Area: 3000 sq ft
Pros: Storage
Cons: Dust from nearby train yard

Progress

Progress - its the first word I hear lately from most people that look in on us while we build out our space. The majority of the light gauge steel framing is done. A good amount drywall is up, doors are hung, plumbing and electrical systems are up and operating. Unfortunately, the general aesthetic is still that of a construction zone. Materials are stacked against the wall, ready to be installed. Tools are arranged for easy access on temporary work surfaces. Extension cords suspended from sprinkler pipes provide temporary power to spaces where the electrical work has not been completed. 

Office bathroom has framing, plumbing, electricity

However, there is a sense of order that is becoming apparent. The walls that are up may not be completed yet, but they are starting to define the spaces that have been carved out of the cavernous expanses. It is becoming less difficult to visualize how the spaces will work - I am not having to describe what will be since the place is starting to speak for itself. It is my hope that eventually, the space will be so intuitive, that there will be no explanation whatsoever required. One will see, then they will know. We are definitely not at that stage yet. Images of the space may make one think that there is some sort of progress that has been accomplished, but the design is still in its infancy and it is still an abstract arrangement of partially completed construction. 

New wall defines kitchen, storage and workshop

New walls define laundry cubby and private bath

Since the overall look of the space is still very raw, we thought it would be a good time to start with a series of featured lofts. Raw urban spaces like the one we occupy that have been transformed into vibrant cleverly designed spaces. We aspire to reach the level that these spaces have attained and are inspired by their visual continuity and aesthetic appeal. So instead of showing you images of the construction debris and dust that currently occupies our space, we would like to show you what is possible when you have been granted the latitude to design in an urban loft. Check back in a couple of days to see our first featured space.

Kitchen Design

Situating the Kitchen

Designing a kitchen from scratch is not as easy as you'd think. In a loft, there is the matter of where to situate it. In our loft, we want the kitchen on the ground floor so as to maximize our 2nd level mezzanine living space and to allow for employee use and business entertaining. While the ground level is spacious, we don't want the kitchen to impede foot traffic to the stairs or through the work space. We also don't want to take away from the open work space where we plan to place desks and conference areas. We could place the kitchen at the very back of the loft, but a kitchen has such potential to be a visually exciting showcase for design skills that we decided to place it halfway towards the entrance to the loft where clients can see it. The only space that met all these requirements happened to be practically under the staircase. To make things more difficult, 10 feet or so away from the underside of staircase is a giant concrete column. So we must figure out how to shoehorn a nice kitchen between the staircase and the column. There are several configurations that will work, but the elements that are fixed are the slim, horizontal upper cabinets, a large island for employees and guests to sit at, and an absence of walls other than a wall for the fridge to rest against.

The Design Inspiration

In our view, an architecture studio should be an open space plan and showcase design elements that illustrate the architect's familiarity with cutting-edge style and technology. This means staying away from traditional-looking cabinet styles, hardware and appliances. In our opinion, "modern" styles tend towards the shiny, sleek, and techno-looking - often incorporating alternative materials and unexpected, bold colors and textures. There are sources of inspiration to be found in magazines such as Metropolis, Dwell, Architect, etc. These sources provide ideas and guidance, but the ultimate look is up to us. After days of racking our brains to choose a look, we finally decided to take a cue from some of our favorite utilitarian items - things that we use all the time that we love the look of. After we gathered these items together we discovered that they all had major design elements in common.

Our first favorite item is our shiny red pepper grinder with chrome tightening nut.

The second item is our shiny, red tea kettle with chrome and black handle.

The third is the trusty red, black and silver Milwaukee impact driver that has helped us put up steel framing and drywall.

The last item is our awesome, red, black and stainless steel Craftsman tool chest.

Shiny, Red & Black

So, it is decided that our kitchen design will incorporate shininess, red, black and stainless steel. It just so happens that modern European kitchen designs often feature glossy, red cabinets. And there are some cool, black sinks, faucets, and phenolic resin countertops available. The countertops are the same as those found in high school chemistry labs, which is unexpected and fun. There will literally be a price to pay for not choosing traditional cabinetry and appliances. But we love to cook and entertain and believe an architecture studio should be held to a higher standard in order to showcase the architect's design sense. So we choose this approach knowing it is quite likely to bust our budget but also knowing that it will have been a worthy attempt.