When a church in Deurne (Noord-Brabant province) is converted into 6 houses, one house is designed as an open loft house. Despite the limited narrow and long space, the spaciousness is optimally used. The different floors are approached as open floor plans where sanitary “blocks” are positioned, leaving residual spaces for various functions.

A line of sight is created along the entire length of the house along the long cupboard wall. This cupboard in question also forms the important central core that connects the spaces. The cupboard wall starts as a kitchen wall turns into a staircase, followed by the low TV cabinet as an extension of the staircase step.

The folded steel staircase is integrated in the cupboard wall and gives the whole an industrial character, which fits well with the existing concrete columns and wooden beams of the church that remain in sight.

A glass floor in the bedroom visually connects all areas vertically and also allows daylight to pass through to the ground floor. The existing wooden roof construction is visible from the ground floor, which extends to the ridge of the roof through the loft in the master bedroom.

Thanks to the perfectly positioned closed blocks and cupboard walls that serve as connecting elements, a house has been created with an open loft character in which the existing elements of the church come into their own.