Lofty Aspirations Architects Kim Coleman and Mark Cigolle acquired a taste for loft living during their years in New York City, and they brought that taste west with them to their practice in Southern California. “We really like the open spaces,” says Coleman. That affinity shows clearly in the couple’s own master bedroom suite, which scatters sleeping, bathing, and dressing functions around an informal, flexible, and very loft-like space.
The sleeping area, delineated by a curved section of open roof framing above and an inlaid metal strip in the maple flooring below, can be part of the larger room or closed off with a floor-to-ceiling curtain. The remaining space consists of a loosely defined dressing/circulation/sitting area flanked
Inspired by the openness of loft living, this bedroom suite deploys bathing spaces at the edges of an open, multi-use space. Photo: Undine Prohl by two open baths—one with a tub, one with a shower. Both tub and shower are open to views of the ocean; the tub also shares a fireplace that breaches the curved wall of the sleeping area. Wall-hung sink bases intrude minimally on the interior volume, the perception of which is further expanded by zinc-clad walls that flow continuously from indoors to out. Interior materials reinforce the link with the environment outside. “The colors that we’ve used,” Coleman says—pale green glass tiles at the tub bath, a green stone floor in the shower, and green glass drawer and door pulls—“are trying to connect with the colors of the ocean.” Project Credits:
Builder/Architect: Cigolle X Coleman, Pacific Palisades, Calif.; Project size: 185 square feet; Construction cost: Withheld; Photographer: Undine Prohl.
Photo: Undine Prohl Resources:
Fittings: Hansgrohe and Hastings; Fixtures: Duravit, Kohler, and Porcher; Lighting fixtures: Bruck and Targetti.
Details The walls that define the two toilet areas in this shape-shifting multi-use room provide more than just privacy. Consisting of frosted Plexiglas panels on box-like wooden frames, the walls transmit light in both directions, alleviating any sense of confinement and radiating a moon-like glow when lit from inside at night. Each frame is closed on only one side; by mounting one panel of each wall on the inside surface, architects Kim Coleman and Mark Cigolle created a pair of twin display niches.
