La loft blurs work and life for design duo
Inside a former Metropolitan Water District headquarters, designers Palaash Chaudhary and Utharaa Zacharias have crafted a 900-square-foot Los Angeles loft that's as much a working showroom as it is a home. It's a deliberate blurring of lines, a rejection of the traditional separation between professional and personal space, and a testament to their design ethos at Soft-Geometry.
A concrete shell, a soft vision
The couple, founders of the lighting and furniture design firm Soft-Geometry, are known for their serene, handmade designs – a stark contrast to the brutalist concrete shell they found in The Elysian, a building originally designed by William Pereira in 1961. Pereira, a name that once graced the cover of Time magazine, engineered the building as an “essential” structure, boasting 12-foot ceilings and seismic resilience. But for Chaudhary and Zacharias, the building’s formidable history was secondary to its raw potential.
“The building caught our eye the first week we were in LA,” Zacharias recalls. “It wasn’t available then, but six months later, this particular unit opened up. Many passed on it because of the industrial rooftop view, but we were instantly smitten.” That view, rather than a deterrent, became part of the loft's unique charm.
Reimagining space: work first, sleep second
The couple's most significant alteration wasn’t a grand redesign, but a subtle shift in priorities. They transformed the original bedroom into a workspace, effectively relegating themselves to a cozy nook for sleeping. “We essentially sleep in a nook,” Chaudhary admits, “but Palaash designed and built a platform bed for it—American white ash, stained walnut—it’s surprisingly satisfying.”
What’s truly remarkable is how seamlessly work and life intertwine. The living room isn’t a space for socializing; it’s a living showroom, showcasing Soft-Geometry’s collections: the Elio Lamp, Indian bull wall hangings, and their signature Donut Tables, all layered throughout the space. The workspace itself is anchored by a vintage workbench, where sketches, collection notes, and color swatches mingle freely. Anna Castelli Ferrieri’s Componibili storage units, holding fabric samples and small essentials, add a touch of mid-century modern practicality.
Rituals and resonance: the details that matter
The kitchen, a study in understated elegance, features removable steel cabinet covers replacing a less-appealing wood veneer. A vintage Neolt Architetto drafting table serves as an island, a testament to their penchant for sourcing unique pieces. The details speak volumes about their design philosophy: a handmade paper craft poster from Oaxaca, a 2019 prototype of their Fluff Bench, and even a seven-year-old elephant ear plant named Haathi, “very much part of the family,” according to Chaudhary.
“We briefly tried separating work and personal lives,” Chaudhary explains, “and it quickly became clear that wasn’t us. We want to wake up and see exactly where we left off the night before.” This ethos is evident in the clutter, the deliberate lack of rigid structure, and the way objects from different eras and origins coexist harmoniously.
A space evolving
As they prepare to welcome their first child, Chaudhary and Zacharias anticipate even more fluidity and a touch more chaos. But the light—the golden sunrise and the warm, diffused sunset—will remain a constant, a daily reminder of the beauty found in unexpected juxtapositions. And as Zacharias notes, “The dividing wall between the showroom/living room and the workspace doubles as a display surface for photography from our catalog and our mood boards, a constant visual reminder of our creative journey.”
The loft isn’t just a home or an office; it’s a living embodiment of Soft-Geometry’s design philosophy—a testament to the power of embracing contrast and finding beauty in the imperfect.