Open, but private, was the paradox explored in the design of the loft to find the right harmony between maintaining the openness of the space, while allowing for individual living and working areas.

Our clients, empty-nesters now ready for a change of scenery, decided it was time to downsize from their bucolic rural home in exchange for city life. They found a loft in an old manufacturing building in the Jewelry District of Downcity Providence in need of renovation. We were very familiar with their lifestyle: her a keynote presenter/self-care strategist, him a physician, and their personal design aesthetic, having designed their previous home. They asked us to embrace the Japanese philosophy of Wabi-sabi: finding beauty in the imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete - so that the new intervention would have a dialog with the time worn brick and timber interior of the loft.

Our solution was several minimalist partial-height walnut room dividers that would extend to a height of 8’-9”. These room dividers create interconnected areas with differing degrees of privacy. Steel lined niches are carefully located within the walnut paneling to display their collection of Japanese Buddha statuary and scrolls. Inside the walnut room divider panels, cabinets hold personal belongings while eliminating exposed domestic clutter. Smaller, private spaces, like a pantry, bathroom and a coat closet are hidden.

A kitchen ideal for entertaining is located in the center of the loft and clad in an ultra-matte black laminate contrasting with the walnut panels. A fourteen-foot-long veined slab of Sorano quartz tops the island and a live-edge slab of walnut cantilevers out to create a breakfast table.

The primary bedroom overlooks the city through historic cargo loading doors and is enclosed by partial-height room divider wardrobes, creating the dressing room. A bathroom clad in black metallic tile and a hemlock wood slatted ceiling creates a spa-like retreat of total privacy.