Loft apartment

A loft can be an upper storey or attic in a building, directly under the roof (US usage) or just a storage space under the roof usually accessed by a ladder (British usage). A loft apartment refers to large adaptable open space, often converted for residential use (a converted loft) from some other use, often light industrial. Adding to the confusion, some converted lofts include upper open loft areas. Within certain upper loft areas exist even further lofts, which may contain loft areas of their own, and so forth.

In US usage a loft is an upper room or story in a building, mainly in a barn, directly under the roof, used either for storage (as in most private houses). In this sense it is roughly synonymous with attic, the major difference being that an attic typically constitutes an entire floor of the building, while a loft covers only a few rooms, leaving one or more sides open to the lower floor. In British usage, lofts are usually just a roof space accessed via a hatch and loft ladder, while attics tend to be rooms immediately under the roof accessed via a staircase. Lofts may have a specific purpose, e.g. an "organ loft" in a church, or to sleep in (sleeping loft). In barns a hayloft is often larger than the ground floor as it would contain a year's worth of hay.

An attic or loft can often be converted to form functional living accommodation (see loft conversion).

Loft apartments are apartments that are generally built from former industrial buildings. When industrial developments are developed into condominiums instead of apartments, they may be called loft condominiums. The general term warehouse-to-loft conversions may sometimes be used for development of industrial buildings into apartments and condominiums. "Loft-style" may also refer simply to developments where a street-level business occupies the first floor while apartment "lofts" are placed above the first floor.

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