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How to say in English?

Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin
Hi guys, I would like to know two architectural exressions in English. A friend of mine is putting together a resume about his works and we don't know how to say these in English.

1. The first one is when you have an attic under a roof which so far has been empty and now you build it in so there are now flats or apartments of whatever in that attic space. What is the official architectural term for that?
2. The second one is when you have an existing building with so many stories and you build one or more additional stories on top of those? What is the term for that one?

Thanks
Laszlo
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20 REPLIES 20
Christiaan
Participant
1. I'd call that a loft conversion
Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin
Christiaan wrote:
1. I'd call that a loft conversion
Hi Christiaan,
I thought a loft is like an old industrial building with big spaces and big story heights that is being converted into a dwelling.
However, this is an attic situated below a sloping roof.
Can it be called "attic conversion"?
Loving Archicad since 1995 - Find Archicad Tips at x.com/laszlonagy
AMD Ryzen9 5900X CPU, 64 GB RAM 3600 MHz, Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB, 500 GB NVMe SSD
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Christiaan
Participant
Attic conversion should be fine, but as far as I know the British call them loft conversions.

What country is your friend applying in? They might be referred to differently there.
Christiaan
Participant
Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin
Aha, looks good.
I will suggest him to write "attic/loft coversions".
Could "story addition" be appropriate for my second question?

By the way, he is just putting stuff together but has no specific country targeted yet.
Loving Archicad since 1995 - Find Archicad Tips at x.com/laszlonagy
AMD Ryzen9 5900X CPU, 64 GB RAM 3600 MHz, Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB, 500 GB NVMe SSD
2x28" (2560x1440), Windows 10 PRO ENG, Ac20-Ac27
Christiaan
Participant
Storey addition sounds reasonable to me.
Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin
OK, thanks for your help.
Loving Archicad since 1995 - Find Archicad Tips at x.com/laszlonagy
AMD Ryzen9 5900X CPU, 64 GB RAM 3600 MHz, Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB, 500 GB NVMe SSD
2x28" (2560x1440), Windows 10 PRO ENG, Ac20-Ac27
Christiaan
Participant
No problem.
Rick Thompson
Expert
In the US, back when I did a lot of renovation work, they were called "finished attic", or "converted attic". A "loft" here generally refers to converted commercial space into living units. If someone told me they designed "lofts" I would assume converted commercial space.

Funny thing though, which makes it all somewhat meaningless, is a one story house with a finished room under the roof, and built that way, is simply a one and a half story. The same one story house that later has the attic finished, is a house with a finished attic:)

Best use a few adjectives.... |ˈajiktiv| noun Grammar... a word or phrase naming an attribute, added to or grammatically related to a noun to modify or describe it.
Rick Thompson
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