VANGUARD Loft
Another of the smaller lofts at Vanguard Prague was designed as an investment interior for resale. We did not want to turn it into a reduced version of a larger apartment. Instead, we worked with one compact built-in volume that could absorb almost everything.
The kitchen, bathroom, built-in storage and sleeping mezzanine are all integrated into one white structure. Against the raw concrete, it reads almost like a separate object inserted into the original industrial shell. This time, instead of glass, the main material for visually lightening the structure was perforated metal.
White is not just a colour choice here. It separates the new intervention from the original concrete and steel and lets the industrial fabric stay visually present.
Everything in One Box
The smaller the loft, the less space there is for freestanding objects scattered around the room. So we pushed as many functions as possible directly into the built-in structure. Conceptually, the design follows ideas we had already tested in the Vanguard model loft, but adapted them to a different layout. The kitchen in white veneer forms part of the same volume as the storage and staircase. Nothing tries to become a separate piece of furniture. Everything belongs to one system, leaving the rest of the loft as open as possible. The box only feels solid on paper. In the actual space, perforated surfaces break it up and allow light, depth and the original concrete to remain visible through it.
Steel Instead of Mass
We designed the staircase as a steel shelving system. Steps and storage are combined into one structure, following a simple rule: if something already takes up space, it should do more than one job.
The same perforated metal continues around the staircase and becomes the balustrade on the upper level. Instead of a solid wall, it creates a semi-transparent layer that makes the mezzanine safe without visually closing it off.
The perforation is also the key difference from the previous white loft. There, we worked with reeded glass; here, with metal. The result is more technical, harder-edged and, in the context of Vanguard, very natural.
White also keeps the new structure visually unified and allows the raw concrete to remain dominant. We explore the same approach in more detail in our article White in interiors.
Bathroom Without Extras
The bathroom goes in the opposite direction: almost everything is reduced to the minimum. White, simple, stripped back. The freestanding washbasin and worktop are combined into one object, so it does not read like a conventional bathroom vanity, while still remaining practical. In the shower, we introduced a freestanding service panel to accommodate the water connections and lit it from behind. A technical necessity became the one deliberately visible detail in the room. The rest we left alone. In a loft this small, there is no need to prove there is an idea every fifty centimetres. One good principle is enough if you stick to it.
From Concept to Built Interior
This loft was originally developed as one of our model concepts for Vanguard. We were not designing for a particular owner, but testing how one of the smaller loft typologies could actually work as a place to live. The visualisations helped us test the spatial arrangement of the mezzanine, the contrast between the white insert and raw concrete, and just how many functions we could squeeze into a single structure. By the time it came to construction, there was not much left to reinvent. We simply built the Tetris.
Vanguard Goes Beyond a Single Loft
We have worked on Vanguard since 2017 and know the building from basement to rooftop. For PSN, private investors and individual owners, we have designed nine loft interiors, the reception, shared spaces and wellness in the original civil-defence shelter. Every brief was different, as were the size, height and intended use of each space. Explore all OOOOX projects at Vanguard Prague and see how we approach the selection, design and delivery of a specific loft.
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Martina - 1. 9. 2026