The loft, named “Writer’s Block” by the architects, is inhabited by a New York Times best-selling author and a game designer who needed a small urban getaway to recover from long book tours and business trips. The unit is now equipped with fully-functional living and office spaces but began as a beautiful blank slate of brick walls, wooden ceilings, and angular support beams. The interior’s initial simplicity inspired the architects to incorporate a geometric motif into their design. CHA:COL explains, ?Taking cues from their writing, gaming and fantasy environment background, we drew inspiration from the Escher-like geometries of the game Monument Valley. The game is unique in its ability to transform two-dimensional lines and shapes into a three-dimensional environment that a player inhabits.?
By attempting to marry the graphic and the spatial, CHA:COL eventually came up with the “Writer’s Block,” which acts as a creative workhorse for writers and game designers alike. Each person now gets a workspace that meets their individual needs and a sense of privacy without having to isolate themselves from the rest of the loft. “Writer’s Block” is a clever manifestation of a shared creative space in which concentration, inspiration, and interaction are all of the utmost importance. Imagine how different the loft would look and feel if the designers had instead chosen to separate the couple by creating two small, walled-...