Loft apartments are genuinely New York residential spaces filled with history that have become an icon of NYC living. These apartments are unique in their architectural characteristics, being that they were originally commercial or manufacturing buildings. Loft design requires an understanding of loft architecture, balancing its challenges with its strengths, and incorporating the owners’ individual needs and aspirations.
I am Jorge Fontan, an architect in New York and owner of Fontan Architecture, an NYC-based architecture firm. At our office, we work on a variety of project types, including loft renovations throughout New York City. In this article, I will share a few lofts we have worked on over the past few years and discuss some of the key insights from each individual project.
Madison Square Park Loft Gut Renovation and Combination
In this first project, we combined and fully gut-renovated two lofts, creating a spacious full-floor unit. On this project Fontan Architecture provided full services, from architectural and interior design to decorating and furniture selection. The result was a fully transformed space.
The owner wanted an apartment that was modern but still felt like a New York City loft. One key element of the design was accentuating the columns and beams in a way that suited the new design. We used specialty paint finishes on the beams and columns so they balanced with the darkness of the kitchen but also stood out with subtle contrast.
Loft Renovation NYC
We designed the primary bathroom with Travertine, a beautiful natural stone with a great deal of character. Using large slabs like these gives the bathroom a luxurious and modern feel.
Loft Bathroom Renovation
This powder room has a unique aesthetic with a strong green tone. The custom marble sink has a very prominent grain, elevating the bathroom by adding detail to its natural characteristics.
Luxury Powder Room Design
This next bathroom is the most modern room in the apartment. It has a dark tone using porcelain tile and bronze metal panels with low lighting.
Dark Modern Bathroom Design
SoHo Loft
In SoHo and Tribeca, you can find some buildings with real artist lofts. These are called “Joint Live-Work Quarters for Artists” or JLWQA. These are the original artist lofts that were illegally occupied back in the 1970s and 1980s. The city then made new codes to allow the building owners to legalize them. Today, these are some of the most sought-after apartments in NYC and are rarely actually occupied by artists. The certificate of occupancy will say JLWQA if it is one of these original artist lofts.
Whether you are an artist or not, incorporating large artworks into your loft can really bring the space to life. Adding art is also a great throwback to the artists who were the pioneers in loft living.
SoHo Loft Design
This loft has a very modern and simple feel. The details and lack of details are what make this apartment work. Notice the wood floors below and how uniform they are. This floor is a select white oak wide plank flooring with a rift and quartered cut. These details make for an incredibly modern space. The simplicity is elegant against the rough brick backdrop and colorful artwork.
Modern NYC Loft Design
NYC Loft Bedroom Design
SoHo Maisonette Loft
This next loft is in SoHo and is a duplex maisonette apartment. A maisonette is an apartment on the first floor with a private entrance from the sidewalk. These are very convenient and allow for optimal privacy. As a side note, contractors love to work in these apartments because they do not have to go through the lobby of the building during the loft renovation.
Loft Apartments With High Ceilings
The first floor usually has higher ceilings, and this one certainly does. This loft has a fourteen-foot ceiling, which makes it a truly awesome space. You really feel the height when you stand inside this apartment.
This picture shows the high ceilings accentuated by the verticality of the original cast iron columns. People often ask me if the columns in lofts are really structural or just decorative, so just in case you aren’t sure, yes, these are structural columns holding up the building. Besides the structure, you can also see the maisonette entrance straight out to the sidewalk under the double doors at the front.
High Ceiling Loft Apartment
Exposed Brick Loft
This loft is quite simple, but the owner wanted to address one very important issue: whether to expose the brick or not.
Loft buildings in New York have brick exterior walls at the perimeter of the building. It will come down to personal taste, but many people like the look of exposed bricks. We will want to consider the quality of the brick. If it looks awful, this may sway your decision. It does not have to be perfect; lofts are gritty and industrial in their history, and it is ok if that comes through.
Of course, you do not have to choose exposed brick just because you live in a loft.
We have another post on Loft Design Ideas, in which we review more architectural and interior design options for renovating a loft in NYC.
Exposed Brick Loft NYC
White Tribeca Loft
This loft is a bit different than the previous ones in that the owner wanted this to be a much cleaner space by going all-white with minimal texture. The loft is in Tribeca, over 4,000 square feet, with a mezzanine level.
In the picture below, you can see the owner had a lot of colorful furniture and photography. She wanted to strip the architecture down to its simplest state and let the furniture bring the color.
White Tribeca Loft Design
Concrete Loft
This next apartment is a small loft in the Financial District with a unique design. The original apartment was all white and very stark, but the owner wanted to add texture. We used concrete as the primary material for the apartment design to provide an industrial modern look with the texture he was looking for.
Concrete Loft in NYC
Industrial Loft Interior Design
Concrete Look Bathroom Design
Loft Architects in NYC
Planning is key to renovating your NYC loft apartment. One must understand the unique characteristics of a loft and engage in the personal nature of home design to develop a final result that suits its individual owners.
Thank You for Reading Our Post on NYC Loft Renovations
I hope this was helpful. If you would like to speak with an architect about a potential project you can contact us at Fontan Architecture directly.
Contact Fontan Architecture
This post was written by Jorge Fontan AIA a Registered Architect and owner of New York City architecture firm Fontan Architecture. Jorge Fontan has earned 3 degrees in the study of architecture including two degrees from the City University of New York and a Masters Degree in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University. Jorge has a background in construction and has been practicing architecture for 20 years where he has designed renovations and new developments of various building types.
