The compact apartment needed living, cooking, dining, sleeping and storage within one limited volume. A conventional stacked layout would force these functions to compete for height and could leave the lower level dark and enclosed.
Loft Design / PROJECT
Split-level Loft with a Suspended Room
Opposing stair routes, a suspended bedroom and an upper kitchen-dining level redistribute the available height, bringing daylight, storage and spatial depth to a compact loft.Designer: Lu Haining
The client wanted to use the full height efficiently, reduce the stair footprint, retain openness and create a distinctive home without sacrificing everyday functions.
Two opposing routes reorganize the section. The main stair rises to the kitchen and dining level, while a separate ladder reaches the suspended bedroom, giving each function its own compact path and height.
Placing the kitchen and dining area on the upper level separates cooking and eating vertically from the living room below. The main stair merges with the sofa so circulation also becomes part of the living space.
Instead of resting on a full mezzanine, the bedroom is suspended from above as an independent room within the room. Its underside preserves more clear height, daylight and storage for the living area.
The project does more than add a mezzanine. It redistributes height according to use, bringing stair, bedroom, kitchen, living room and storage into one three-dimensional layout.
- 01Use opposing routes to distribute levels
- 02Merge the main stair with the living-room sofa
- 03Place kitchen and dining on the upper level
- 04Suspend an independent bedroom from above
- 05Preserve daylight and clear height below
- 06Integrate storage into the vertical layout
Read the project as a sequence of spatial decisions, from structure and circulation to the final lived scene.
PROJECT FILM
Walkthrough of the split-level stairs, suspended room and vertical living layout