Loft extension

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Under attic conversion (Austrian: attic conversion ) one understands the conversion of attics for residential purposes. While the attics of older urban tenement houses used to be regularly used to dry laundry, today they are often unused or used as (final) storage facilities for items that are no longer required, which poses a risk in terms of fire protection . The loft conversion is regulated in Germany and Austria in the building regulations of the federal states.

features

Since living space is scarce and expensive, especially in the Wilhelminian-style districts of large cities, there are programs in many cities to convert this unused space into apartments. Depending on the type of roof construction , the room heights are in many cases sufficient for use as a lounge .

While the creation of living space in inner city districts through loft extensions is a largely undisputed goal of urban planning and is therefore promoted in many cities, the way it is implemented can trigger conflicts. In order to illuminate the future living spaces, it is necessary to install additional skylights or dormers , which changes the geometry of the roof landscape and can have undesirable consequences for the urban appearance, especially in the case of listed ensembles . Loft extensions therefore often lead to a confrontation of different economic and aesthetic interests, such as the pursuit of maximizing the achievable cubage with the adaptation requirements of monument and ensemble protection .

Another potentially conflict-prone phenomenon that occurs in connection with loft conversions is the tendency to create luxury apartments in converted attics, for example in the form of connected penthouses or maisonettes . Structural features such as roof terraces also create very attractive and therefore very expensive living space. The influx of the target group addressed here can trigger gentrification effects, i.e. the displacement of the previous population, in districts with sensitive social milieus .

literature

  • Roof extensions in the urban landscape. A comparison of the situation in Vienna, Berlin, Prague, Budapest and Munich , Wiener Planungswerkstatt, workshop report No. 63, MA 18 ( Magistrate of the City of Vienna) 2004
  • Put it on top - 19 completed and planned roof extensions , Vienna planning workshop, workshop report No. 62, MA 18 (City of Vienna) 2004
  • Vienna's Roofscape and Roofspace in: ICOMOS (Ed.) Heritage at Risk 2004–2005 Country Report Austria (also available on the WEB)

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