The existing building at 550 Beatty St was Vancouver’s first ‘New York style open plan loft’ – a 1907 warehouse that was originally retrofitted into residential open-plan lofts in 1981. In this new third iteration of the life of the building, the two-floor dwelling is programmed with 1000sf of living and entertaining ‘public’ space upstairs and 1000sf of convertible sleeping and play ‘private’ space downstairs.

The lower floor plan employs a series of sliding partitions that convert the layout from a single open plan space during the day, into a two bedroom plus nursery layout at night.

Points of Interest

This project presents an alternative to suburban living for young families. The decisions of individual families to collectively reclaim neglected parts of the urban fabric presents a compelling model for urban revitalization and adaptive re-use. The design demonstrates a creative architectural response to the challenges of creating ‘rooms’ in generic loft spaces – which typically only have access to light and air at one end of an extremely deep floor plan.

• Architects

  Campos Leckie Studio

• Location

  Crosstown, Vancouver, Canada

• Category

  Loft

• Site Characteristics

  Urban split-level loft

• Program

  Convertible spaces – 2 bdrm, nursery, 1.5 bath, kitchen, living, dining, roof deck

• Area

  2000.0 ft2

• Project Year

  2009

• Photographs

  John Sinal