Urban Loft

" one learns people through the heart; not the eyes or the intellect"

- mark twain

our objective is to turn the UNCG storage warehouse into an condo complex complied of loft living quarters. the idea is to take old unused industrial warehouses into affordable dwellings for first time home owners.

the overall concept of our space design is based on the community center within the space. we wanted it to be the life force of our space.   it is the heart.  each unit is like an organ that only thrives off the social aspects of life. we saw these new home owners to be young citizens venturing into the workforce for the first time, people who thrive on community.

plan

our plan is centralized around the community center [heart], and moves outward from there the pathways connect all the units together.  each unit contains a patio space which opens up to neighbors for an added push towards community. i guess you could say we created utopia in a box.

the view below is an area view of the interior of the space.

the overall idea is to create a vineyard type space keeping the overhead beams and punching through the middle of them to expose the outside. the units however would keep the ceiling except where the loft punches through.  since the space is sustainable we wanted to take the remaining concrete that is replaced by grass to be broken down and reused to fabricate the walls of the units, in some since we are giving back to the earth and reusing what we take away from the building and not just throwing it away.