Turn Your Loft Into A Family - Friendly Home

A loft turns into a family-friendly home with custom and kid-friendly features.

- Yuen Yi Ying

The Brief

Loft homes with soaring ceilings feel grand and unique, but we often don’t think of them as child-friendly spaces with their typical edgy vibe and stunning heights. However, once this family honed in on this unit with 4.2m ceilings, they turned to Kobe Wong of KDOT for a clean and timeless abode that would not only maximise useable space but also be easy to maintain and kid-safe.

The household comprises accomplished swim coaches Sumiko Tan, who has represented Singapore in marathons and triathlons, as well as Sean Phua, previously the captain of the Temasek Polytechnic Water Polo team and later a member of the Bedok Water Polo team; their two young ones, a boy and girl, are aged two and six respectively. With this dynamic in mind, Kobe designed the house to keep up with the family's active and busy lifestyle.

By creating loft structures around the previously single-level space, the home’s 1,141sq ft layout was boosted by an additional 50sq ft, the maximum allowable built-up area, giving everyone more room to move around and grow into while still preserving the wow-factor of the tall ceilings.

Several clever features further help to improve the home’s utility and versatility. In the media and living room, rounded stairs that tuck away free up room when not in use and eschew the need for a baby gate as it prevents the toddler from climbing to the second level. Here too, a blackout roller shade not only shuts out bright rays but doubles as a projector screen. This lets the family view shows from the dining area or from the loft above the communal zone.