The concrete floor runs uninterrupted across the open level, so the scale of the room is felt immediately. Above it, a floating mezzanine sits inside the steel frame instead of cutting through it, leaving the height of the old industrial shell visible. Warm timber softens the structure where it matters most: at the stair volume, along the kitchen, and around the darker edges of the plan. This industrial loft uses those contrasts to hold the space together without closing it down.

A loft plan shaped by height

The main challenge was to keep the room open while adding two stairs. Rather than treating them as separate objects, the design folds them into the architecture. One stair works as a wood and steel staircase with storage and shelving built into its body. The other becomes part of the kitchen wall, with the oven integrated into the rise and a series of cabinets extending the line. That approach keeps the floor clear and lets the full volume of the industrial interior remain readable from one end to the other.

Seen from below, the floating mezzanine feels suspended between the existing metal frame and the new built elements. It does not interrupt the rhythm of the structure. Windows placed in a playful sequence keep the upper level connected to the living area, so the enclosed rooms never feel detached from the ground floor. Light passes through those openings and lands on the white surfaces, where the plaster picks up every small shift in shadow.

White plaster, texture, and the fireplace wall

At one end of the room, a white plaster fireplace wall rises through the double height. Its surface is built up with several plaster techniques layered over one another, creating depth in both texture and tone. The hearth projects from a low sofa line, so the fire sits close to the seating while the wall itself climbs upward as a vertical marker. The result is not a decorative insert but a strong architectural plane that answers the height of the loft.

The same wall treatment returns upstairs, tying the two levels together through material rather than repetition of form. Around it, the room stays restrained: white plaster, exposed structure, and the marks of use that come with an older shell. That restraint gives the art and the furniture enough room to stand out without fighting the architecture.

Art on the wall, not tucked away

The owners’ art collection is given a proper place in the plan. A loft gallery wall stretches across a large white surface, allowing the framed works to sit against a calm background instead of competing with pattern or heavy color. A few pieces are grouped more densely, while other parts of the wall are left open, which keeps the display from becoming static. In a room this tall, that kind of arrangement helps the eye move horizontally as well as upward.

Stronger light is aimed where it counts. Small, precise spots bring the kitchen and the artworks into focus, while a larger lamp above the living area lowers the scale of the space. Its rounded form hangs like a canopy, gathering the seating zone under the full height of the room. The lighting plan is simple in concept, but it uses shape and direction to make the volume feel less empty.

Round light above the living room

The large pendant above the living room does more than illuminate a table or sofa. It marks a center point in a room that could otherwise drift upward into the structure. Around it, the fixtures stay discreet and controlled, so the brighter lines of light cut cleanly across the kitchen and the art wall. The contrast between soft roundness and sharper beams is one of the few moments where the lighting becomes visibly architectural.

Wood, steel, and storage folded into one gesture

The wood and steel staircase is built as furniture as much as circulation. It carries the body upward, but it also stores books, hides devices, and shapes the kitchen edge. That dual role matters in an industrial loft, where open space can quickly become visually noisy if every function is left to stand alone. Here, the stair volume absorbs much of that load. It defines the route, hides practical elements, and gives the room a single grounded piece of joinery to hold against the steel frame.

Warm timber keeps reappearing in the plan, especially where the architecture needs to feel closer to hand. It sits against the concrete floor, meets the white plaster, and follows the line of the upper level. The contrast is deliberate, but not theatrical. The material shifts are clear enough to read at once, and quiet enough to let the proportions of the loft stay in charge.

Rooms upstairs, connected by glass and light

Upstairs, the mezzanine holds the more enclosed functions, including the sleeping area and bathroom. The request was for privacy without losing the sense of connection to the floor below. That is handled through windows placed in unexpected positions, so the upper rooms can close off when needed while still borrowing light and sightlines from the main level. The large opening strategy also keeps the stair route legible from different angles, which matters in a plan with so much vertical movement.

The bathroom follows the same material discipline. A double washbasin sits on a wood base, with tiled walls and a bath placed in front of a large window. The daylight makes the room feel more open, but the real interest is in the way the finishes stay aligned with the rest of the loft. Nothing switches to a different language upstairs; the same mix of plaster, timber, and measured light continues through the private rooms.

From shell to lived-in volume

This industrial loft keeps the old structural frame visible, then adds a series of precise interventions around it. The mezzanine hangs within the existing steel, the stairs become storage, and the fireplace wall rises as a plastered counterpoint to the rougher shell. Because the interventions are concentrated rather than spread everywhere, the room still feels like one volume. You read the height, the frame, the floor, and the path through it in a single glance, even as the details shift from concrete to timber to white plaster.

What stays with the space is the sense of movement: up the stair, across the mezzanine, back down to the living area, and out again through the large openings. The art wall, the round ceiling light, and the white plaster fireplace wall each anchor a different part of that route. Together they turn a raw industrial interior into a measured dwelling where storage, art, and structure all share the same frame.

Photography: Alexander van Berge