Live-Work Loft

This live-work loft for a single man occupies the entire top floor of a 1920’s concrete frame structure in San Francisco’s Soma neighborhood. The space, essentially a “toolbox” for the owner’s urban lifestyle, uniquely adapts commercial and technical materials and components to residential functions. Laboratory cabinet modules form the kitchen, a customized computer floor forms the sleeping platform, and a precision aluminum framing system creates the enclosure and framework for an “electronics laboratory”. These modular components were customized to client requirements.

The client’s lifestyle is utilitarian, blending professional, technology-based investigations with domestic functions. The design draws heavily on the client’s desire for a space exuding a practical, modern simplicity, and was influenced by his aesthetic sensitivities and emphasis on the adaptability, prefabrication and modularity of the project components. Functional insertions into the existing concrete shell created an efficient, adaptable “armature” for his evolving needs and lifestyle. In this respect, the space is a residential laboratory.