Type: Residential-Interior
Program: Loft Condo Unit
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Construction: Harder Brothers, Inc.
Status: Completed 2011
Brief: Renovation and re-partitioning of a 300 SF bedroom
Study Model: View Towards the Enclosure
Iterative Study of Skin Pattern
Wood Wall Pattern Mock-up
Floor Plan: Previous
Floor Plan: Executed
Enlarged Detail of Wall
Existing Conditions
Existing Conditions
Construction: Framing
Construction: Door Detail
Construction: Door Detail
Concealed Bedroom Door
View of New Bedroom Enclosure
View of Bedroom Enclosure
View Inside Transition Corridor
Bedroom Wall from Inside the Room
Bedroom Wall Detail
View of Wall Inside the Second Bedroom
Wall Detail
This project mandated the division of an awkwardly-configured bedroom into two distinct sleeping quarters. Due to open character of the loft space and the existing tall ceilings, we approached the solution with the understanding that the new configuration would ultimately result in relatively small yet vertical zones. Thus, we chose to bring down one’s visual perception of the existing space and created a “binding” separation, while dedicating one window within each of the new rooms.
The new enclosure for the main sleeping zone is meant to read as an inserted-mass. After entering the space through a concealed door, one realizes that the mass is just a simple composition of two delicate, L-shaped walls. One of which is clad with alternating vertical
oak strips providing visual depth within. Both natural and artificial light brings out the resulting pattern and the intended articulation of the clad wall.
Ultimately, the small intervention has transcended the simplicity of its function (to separate) to become the main binding-element of the loft space, stitching together surrounding spaces and blurring the boundaries in between.