The Trend towards Lofts in Ottawa Apartments & Bungalows

ADVERTISERS CLICK HERE

	The Tacoma & Spokane Terrace Homes by Richcraft Source: Richcraft

	The Tudor by Campanale Source: Campanale Homes

For example, Campanale's Tudor 1 contains 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms within 1,343 Sq Ft of finished space. By adding a loft in their Tudor 11 they managed to add two more bedrooms, an extra bathroom, and a loft area with a gallery overlooking the living rooms below - all of which add another 678 Sq Ft of finished living area.

The Tacoma is situated in the upper two levels. Like most Terrace Homes there are two bedrooms and (in this case) also an upstairs Loft overlooking the Great Room downstairs, like a gallery with a railing.

The advantage of the 9ft x 11ft Loft is that it can be used as a spare room - either as a 3rd bedroom, a Home Office, a media nook, or a sitting room. Next to it is the main bathroom. And there is a walk-in closet in the main bedroom.

A special feature of The Tacoma is the unusually large kitchen (with an island) and its adjacent breakfast room. A closet in the kitchen contains the laundry washer & dryer. The dining room is placed conveniently next to the kitchen. And the Great Room is beside it. One of the features of the Tacoma (and The Spokane) is the very large clerestory window that illuminates both levels.

Those uninitiated in the recent trend to lofts may wonder what is the difference between downtown condominium apartments and suburban Terrace Homes that are also condo apartments. The simple answer could be that apartments in Terrace Homes are not nearly as expensive as the more traditional kind.

That is partly because of the higher cost of land in the core of most cities, including Ottawa. And also because there are fewer amenities, if any, in Terrace Homes. Add to that the parking accommodation and you can immediately see that construction costs must differ dramatically. Whereas covered parking is usually provided in more expensive apartment buildings, Terrace Homes provide outside parking.

Lofts sounded like a good idea! When building materials and labour costs during the recent housing boom resulted in smaller and smaller apartments and houses horizontally, the idea struck some Ottawa builders that there was still unused vertical space;

• In the attic
• Through the floor
• In high ceilings of old warehouses
• In high ceilings of old homes

It was all a matter of best usage of space - something that real estate developers know all about - otherwise known as maximizing resources.

As apartments shrank and some types of accommodation narrowed, builders caught on to the idea of designing 2-storey suites in so-called "Terrace Homes" with an upstairs gallery that overlooks the living area below.

It may sound as quaint as taking a minstrel gallery from a lordly manor and planting it in a suburban row house, but nevertheless, it works well.

Upwards and downwards seemed to be the practice of Ottawa builders who thought they'd found new space to exploit. But, as we shall see, new space - like new technologies - always comes at a price.

In the exuberance for onwards and upwards, ceilings of some ground floor rooms in 2-storey family homes were removed to expose the vaulted ceilings of the floor above, thus creating an impression of spaciousness.

Now living rooms and family rooms and "Great Rooms" could be viewed from a "minstrel gallery" created from an upstairs loft. And the loft could be used as a computer or multimedia room, making it look bigger too.

Instead of having to buy horizontal space at a premium, there seemed to be no end of free space up in the air, so builders started looking for ideas under the eaves of the attics in the new houses they were building. After all, it was space that already existed.

Has the novelty of lofts already worn off?

If not, then why are lofts suddenly disappearing in smaller apartments almost as quickly as they were introduced?

In fact, there's nothing new about lofts. They come in and out of fashion just like smaller, more economic automobiles do. Even the old Volkswagen "Beetle" (circa 1938) has made its return as the price of oil soars.

It is economic reasons that trigger innovations. But, in this case, it is not smaller automobiles but smaller homes. And builders have to find a way to make them look bigger, even as they shrink. Perception is all!

Competing townhouses encouraged one Ottawa builder to design his townhouses with a gallery at the rear of the main floor, overlooking a finished basement family room below. That inspired the use of 2-storey windows to illuminate both floors and create an impression of more space. That's where clerestory windows come in handy.

Clerestory Windows came back in fashion recently to do the same thing for 2-storey loft apartments with space left open in the top floor to overlook the living room below. And the perception of spaciousness in a tiny apartment was enhanced by the huge clerestory windows bringing not only light into both levels, but also creating a panoramic view outside

It's just like the old song said.

Way back somewhere in the 1950s an enterprising builder in London's Hampstead Village (that's London England, by the way) converted a huge Italianate Victorian mansion overlooking the heath into condominium apartments.

Basements used previously by Victorian domestic servants were given paved courtyards outside that slope elegantly up to an impeccable lawn. They became one-level condo apartments. Upper levels took advantage of the existing high Victorian ceilings - all that nice free space - by building second-storey lofts as bedrooms overlooking the 2-storey living/dining room below. Today those conversions cost buyers millions on the resale market.

Even earlier than that, another imaginative builder designed loft apartments in a colourful and historic area often equated with London's Hampstead neighbourhood, because both areas used to be inhabited by famous artists and writers and celebrated actors. Like Hampstead, it too had been viewed as "Bohemian".

This is the Bavarian suburb of Schwabing in Munich. All bachelor apartments have a downstairs living & Dining Room and an adjoining galley kitchen (which today would be open to the living area, to create an impression of more space - even though there's less), and a bathroom. Upstairs in the open space is a "floating" loft designed as a bedroom.

It was designed and built in a previous imaginative era when rising costs of horizontal space pressed builders' imagination and their desire for economic utilization of vertical space. Just like in Ottawa today!

With a little imagination and good taste, economic necessity can be turned into novelty or fashion - with an individual and friendly ambiance that attracts, in particular, young singles with limited income to spend on paying off mortgages.

That ambiance of sloping attic ceilings and dormer windows is described as Gemutlich in Germany. "Snug, cosy and agreeable."

But, as the economist said, "Whenever something looks like it can't go on forever, it won't."

As new home prices continue to soar - as the demand for land and subcontractor costs put pressures on the economy - builders have discovered that the hole in the middle of the floor isn't free after all - there is an opportunity cost.

That is because builders can charge for the piece of floor that had to be cut out to provide that feeling of vertical spaciousness. Lofts are all about using open space.

That's why builders have now taken to featuring two different dimensions - the square footage measured around each floor and also the area of the hole where the floor has been removed!

Expect to see far fewer inexpensive loft apartments and more traditional 2-storey ones with the upper floor left intact.

Ever noticed how doughnut manufacturers charge for the piece of dough that comes out of the middle, by recycling it? That's what builders realised they can do, too - but by replacing it.

So, as we might say "goodbye" to smaller inexpensive loft apartments - we say "hello" to the concept of building lofts on top of bungalows.

Individual home owners have long been adding another floor by converting the attic beneath the roof. Now builders are doing it for us as they construct some new bungalows. The "hole in the middle of the doughnut" is a matter of turning a problem into an opportunity.

A good example of this is Campanale's Tudor design, at Prince of Wales.

Why is this an opportunity for builders? Because bungalows take up a lot of land and therefore cost more to build per square foot than a 2-storey house. The basement is bigger and so is the roof. The objective is not only to open up and make usable the free space under the roof, but also the additional space in the basement.

Expect to see a trend back to High Ranches - as they were called - by elevating the basement to accommodate extra finished rooms with bigger windows above and below ground level, to illuminate them.

The attic - as well as the basement - can provide another bedroom or two with a separate bathroom, and a studio or loft overlooking the living area below. That gives added vertical space to the living and dining area on the main floor.

It also creates a cosy appearance from the outside due to the dormer windows in the roof. And whether looking up or down, towards or from the loft on the inside, creates an impression of luxurious spaciousness.

At last count, surprisingly, there were as many as 657 new home designs in Ottawa which include a loft. But they are by no means only lower-priced smaller apartments or bungalows ambitiously doing their best to appear bigger - like the ones I've so far described.

Some builders, like Richcraft, offer a loft "option" in place of a 4th bedroom in some houses. And while Tamarack's Glengarry features a loft as a standard, their Bristol offers an "optional loft".

For more details of both Richcraft's and Campanale's offerings, you can study the tables below.

Check availability with the builder - Contact Richcraft

Check availability with the builder - Contact Campanale

ADVERTISERS CLICK HERE

 

The sole aim of the HomesExplorer™ 5-Star Design Awards Program is to reward excellence in the new homes industry by awarding five stars for the best design or innovation in a particular category. Our 5 Star Rating is awarded solely for excellence in design or innovation. Quality of construction and service are for buyers to ascertain themselves.