It's what the blogosphere was built for, people. A few years back, the industrial detritus-loving architecture firm LO/TEK remodelled a typical loft apartment in the West Village, replacing the sleeping mezzanine with a factory-style catwalk--and king-sized sleeping pods set into a tanker truck. The pneumatically operated hatches on either side close for sleeping in--and for not falling out.
Anyway, the place is now for rent, Curbed.com picked up on the "most unique"-ness of the listing, wild-ass discussion ensued, and the apartment's owner showed up in the comments to set a few things straight. Turns out to be a new dad-in-the-city dilemma like so many others--just with the kid sleeping in a tanker truck:
My question is less about the pods and more about childproofing an industrial-grade catwalk...Ok - just found out my place was posted here - and I figured I could answer some questions/set the record straight...
- I'm not sick of it at all - I love it - my wife loves it - our 1-1/2 year old son loves it - but we want to have a 2nd child. So unfortunately we have out grown it. If I could afford to buy the place next door and knock down the wall I would.
...
King size beds - generally we sleep with the living room side door closed (the side people worry about falling out of - its NOT an issue) and the catwalk side open - this limits the amount of light so you can sleep in. But they have lights built in for reading at night. And you can open the door in the morning for more light - the Apt has a 8x12ft window in the front so it gets tons of light.
What do you do, custom-cut plexiglass panels? Or maybe you could zip-tie a bunch of bright orange hurricane fencing along there?
That's Rather Something [curbed, images via citi-habitats' listing]
Previously: the 70's awesomeness of H.U.D.D.L.E. kids furniture made from giant, repurposed tubes
breaking news update from a new commenter on the curbed thread: "I'm the wife and yes I am the one who got knocked up in a pod. Not such a bad thing. The apartment is so incredibly efficient, I love it, and have loved it for the past 7 years...."
Stay tuned...
Oh, also, the place was just reduced to $6995/mo. WVill Loft, "tons of light," remember.
This is what we did: http://homepage.mac.com/cameron.ca/PhotoAlbum18.html
Clearly a different set up, but something like that would work.
[actually, I just fwded this to someone earlier this week. very sweet. -ed.]
cameron, that looks great!! we have a similar set-up, tho a bit more uh old-skool (industrial, battered black iron spiral staircase and gaping railings)-- my husband used plexiglass panels and attached them with cable ties. i don't hate it -- you can't tell what they are until you look closely. but the hardware you used is gorgeous.
Marjorie, (the oddness of talking to a total stranger on the interweb who shares first names with my sister is overwhelming right now)/Greg,
There were several things we would have done differently if we were to do it again (we've moved and don't need a rig like that anymore.
1) Figure out that running the drill backwards worked better than forwards before ruining some plexi
2) the horse shoe hardware? an oval hole would be more suitable. The distance between the two pole ends does not equal the distance between them when they start to curve.
Dremmel. Lots and lots of dremmel. And maybe a better circular saw.
cameron, i thought it was "interwebs."
thanks for the tips, should we ever wish to upgrade! or hey, maybe we'll go commando and just remove the plexi panels in a year or two. kids have to learn risk-management sometime, am i right?