Architecture Wednesday: Loft 19

It just seems, at least from the outside, so cold and gray and lonely; or, as the architect called it, “an island over the city, abandoned and peaceful environment with special aesthetics.”

It used to be part of the HFF factory complex—a weapons factory—in the southern part of Budapest and is roughly 100 years old. Now, the tower, at least, is Loft 19, a 6,458 square foot, four-story building protected as a national industrial monument.

The design of the space is a personal mix of different styles and eras; it is full of special pieces, collected one by one during decades in flea markets, auctions and antique shops or created by the designers themselves.

Huge windows, light, the unusual size rooms, the old structural elements and materials, the bright colors play the main role. Old iron doors were kept, original beams were reused for book shelves.

I quite like the idea of this island of color in a dismal gray industrial space. I could live there ... this is one of my favorite reimaginings of an old space.

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