SOMA Loft

A young couple approached Malcolm Davis and his team with an outdated loft in need of updating and a vision of a brighter, more contemporary space. The industrial building in SOMA had great bones and was originally converted into live/work lofts by David Baker in 1990. However, a series of renovations and casework installations left the unit segmented, disjointed, and in need of simplification.

MDa aimed to help the clients maximize their square footage and capitalize on the existing strengths of the building. The tall vaulted concrete ceilings and distinctive fluted concrete columns paved the way for a language of exposed hardware, sharp lines and crisp details. These bold industrial traits, combined with MDa’s signature play of natural light and modern warmth, created the beautiful and livable home of the clients’ dreams.

The mezzanine was extended to its maximum potential, creating space for an additional bathroom upstairs in the primary lofted bedroom area. The space below the extended mezzanine became a much needed office. Despite being only 6.5’ wide, the light infiltrating measures undertaken by the MDa team allow the office to feel larger and more airy than one would expect of the compact internal space. A custom headboard in the mezzanine bedroom above acts as a light shaft, pulling natural light into the office from a nearby exterior skylight. Additionally, custom steel and fluted glass barn doors provide privacy to both the office and the adjacent den, while also allowing shared light from the large fenestration at the main living space to filter through.

Sometimes restrictive building codes can lead to beautiful and creative building solutions, and that was certainly the case in this project. The overall ceiling height of the vaulted space did not allow for a typical floor system depth at the mezzanine. Instead, a series of LVLs with attached steel angles support the 2x6 decking above. The result is a minimized floor system that is 5.5 inches thick at the LVL beams, but only 1.5 inches thick where the 2x6 decking is spanning, allowing for a taller ceiling height in the office and den rooms below. The exposed decking acts as both the ceiling for the spaces below and the flooring of the mezzanine above.

The final result is an understated warm industrial aesthetic that plays harmoniously with the existing building, satisfying the clients' desire for a bit of respite in the busy SOMA neighborhood.