Union Street Lofts

The warehouse was built to hold rope and did so for eighty years; the ceiling is still stained by rope tar, and the client asked us to keep it. The lofts are organised along the original sawtooth roof, which floods the space with north light exactly as it did for the rope makers.

Each loft has a work room at the front and a living space behind, separated by a full-height book wall. The concrete floors are polished, the brick is lime-washed, and every new element is clearly new — steel, glass and oak — so the building reads honestly at two centuries at once.

All units sold before completion, which the client credits to the windows. The architects credit the windows and the rent.