Stanford Design Loft Overhaul
What makes creative space?
Welcome to the Stanford Design Program's graduate loft. Though it is in reality a retired firehouse, it is still called the Loft in memory of the original graduate workspace in the loft over the machine shop. In 2009, the faculty decided that this particular space needed an overhaul, as once the loft had been moved to this building in the 70's, it hadn't been paid any architectural attention since. (Except, of course, for additions by students over the years.)
Where to start? After interviewing past and current students and observing the space, it was determined that students were using personal space mostly for storage and private work, i.e.- computer, but there was no space to actually work on large and/or group projects. There was a table outside fit for larger work, but with about twenty-five people working on projects, a twenty foot length of table just wasn't cutting it. So we decided to start with the challenge of getting all the students into one side of the large building, leaving the entire west side free for dynamic use.
We ended up with a design in which all personal spaces open into the center of the room, and the west wing contains furniture fit for collaborative and large scale work. The intent was to not only encourage group work, but also expose to the community individual projects. With a small desk space, work is forced out of the personal space and onto communal tables. We feel that this not only solicits helpful suggestions for the creator but also allows less experienced students to learn new fabrication techniques through observation. Simply working amongst other people removes many barriers when it comes to asking for help as well.
