diff --git a/dlangide.visualdproj b/dlangide.visualdproj
index 2f2f31a..b18e88d 100644
--- a/dlangide.visualdproj
+++ b/dlangide.visualdproj
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
   <compiler>0</compiler>
   <otherDMD>0</otherDMD>
   <program>$(DMDInstallDir)windows\bin\dmd.exe</program>
-  <imppath>$(SolutionDir)/src $(SolutionDir)/3rdparty $(SolutionDir)/3rdparty/libpng/source $(SolutionDir)/../DerelictGL3/source  $(SolutionDir)/../DerelictUtil/source  $(SolutionDir)/../DerelictFT/source  $(SolutionDir)/../DerelictSDL2/source</imppath>
+  <imppath>$(SolutionDir)/src $(SolutionDir)/3rdparty $(SolutionDir)/3rdparty/libpng/source $(SolutionDir)/../DerelictGL3/source  $(SolutionDir)/../DerelictUtil/source  $(SolutionDir)/../DerelictFT/source  $(SolutionDir)/../DerelictSDL2/source  $(SolutionDir)/../de_image/source/interfaces $(SolutionDir)/../de_image/source/png $(SolutionDir)/../dlib</imppath>
   <fileImppath />
   <outdir>$(ConfigurationName)</outdir>
   <objdir>$(OutDir)</objdir>
@@ -190,6 +190,10 @@
  </Config>
  <Folder name="dlangide">
   <Folder name="dlangide">
+   <Folder name="workspace">
+    <File path="src\dlangide\workspace\project.d" />
+    <File path="src\dlangide\workspace\workspace.d" />
+   </Folder>
    <Folder name="ui">
     <File path="src/dlangide/ui/commands.d" />
     <File path="src/dlangide/ui/frame.d" />
diff --git a/src/app.d b/src/app.d
index a968468..9f7bdbd 100644
--- a/src/app.d
+++ b/src/app.d
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import std.stdio;
 import std.conv;
 import dlangide.ui.frame;
 import dlangide.ui.commands;
+import dlangide.workspace.workspace;
 
 
 mixin APP_ENTRY_POINT;
@@ -40,6 +41,10 @@ extern (C) int UIAppMain(string[] args) {
     // create some widget to show in window
     window.mainWidget = new IDEFrame(window);
 
+    // testing workspace loader
+    Workspace ws = new Workspace();
+    ws.load(appendPath(exePath, "../workspaces/sample1/sample1.dlangidews"));
+
     // show window
     window.show();
 
diff --git a/src/dlangide/workspace/project.d b/src/dlangide/workspace/project.d
index 0cda313..6e02ad0 100644
--- a/src/dlangide/workspace/project.d
+++ b/src/dlangide/workspace/project.d
@@ -1,6 +1,79 @@
 module dlangide.workspace.project;
 
-/// DLANGIDE D project
-class Project {
+import dlangide.workspace.workspace;
+import dlangui.core.logger;
+import std.path;
+import std.file;
+import std.json;
+import std.utf;
+
+class WorkspaceItem {
+    protected string _filename;
+    protected string _dir;
+    protected dstring _name;
+    protected dstring _description;
+
+    this(string fname = null) {
+        filename = fname;
+    }
+
+    /// file name of workspace item
+    @property string filename() {
+        return _filename;
+    }
+
+    /// file name of workspace item
+    @property void filename(string fname) {
+        if (fname.length > 0) {
+            _filename = buildNormalizedPath(fname);
+            _dir = dirName(filename);
+        } else {
+            _filename = null;
+            _dir = null;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// load
+    bool load(string fname) {
+        // override it
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    bool save() {
+        return false;
+    }
+}
+
+/// DLANGIDE D project
+class Project : WorkspaceItem {
+    protected Workspace _workspace;
+    protected bool _opened;
+    this(string fname = null) {
+        super(fname);
+    }
+    override bool load(string fname = null) {
+        if (fname.length > 0)
+            filename = fname;
+        if (!exists(filename) || !isFile(filename))  {
+            return false;
+        }
+        Log.d("Reading project from file ", _filename);
+
+        try {
+            string jsonSource = readText!string(_filename);
+            JSONValue json = parseJSON(jsonSource);
+            _name = toUTF32(json["name"].str);
+            _description = toUTF32(json["description"].str);
+            Log.d("  project name: ", _name);
+            Log.d("  project description: ", _description);
+        } catch (JSONException e) {
+            Log.e("Cannot parse json", e);
+            return false;
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            Log.e("Cannot read project file", e);
+            return false;
+        }
+        return true;
+    }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/dlangide/workspace/workspace.d b/src/dlangide/workspace/workspace.d
index 1d719a7..81c3e3a 100644
--- a/src/dlangide/workspace/workspace.d
+++ b/src/dlangide/workspace/workspace.d
@@ -1,11 +1,65 @@
 module dlangide.workspace.workspace;
 
 import dlangide.workspace.project;
+import dlangui.core.logger;
+import std.path;
+import std.file;
+import std.json;
+import std.utf;
+
+/**
+    Exception thrown on Workspace errors
+*/
+class WorkspaceException : Exception
+{
+    this(string msg, string file = __FILE__, size_t line = __LINE__)
+    {
+        super(msg, file, line);
+    }
+}
+
 
 /// DlangIDE workspace
-class Workspace {
-    protected string _dir;
-    protected dstring _name;
-    protected dstring _description;
+class Workspace : WorkspaceItem {
     protected Project[] _projects;
+
+    this(string fname = null) {
+        super(fname);
+    }
+
+    override bool load(string fname = null) {
+        if (fname.length > 0)
+            filename = fname;
+        if (!exists(_filename) || !isFile(_filename))  {
+            return false;
+        }
+        Log.d("Reading workspace from file ", _filename);
+
+        try {
+            string jsonSource = readText!string(_filename);
+            JSONValue json = parseJSON(jsonSource);
+            _name = toUTF32(json["name"].str);
+            _description = toUTF32(json["description"].str);
+            Log.d("workspace name: ", _name);
+            Log.d("workspace description: ", _description);
+            JSONValue projects = json["projects"];
+            foreach(string key, ref JSONValue value; projects) {
+                string path = value.str;
+                Log.d("project: ", key, " path:", path);
+                if (!isAbsolute(path))
+                    path = buildNormalizedPath(_dir, path, "dub.json");
+                Project project = new Project(path);
+                _projects ~= project;
+                project.load();
+
+            }
+        } catch (JSONException e) {
+            Log.e("Cannot parse json", e);
+            return false;
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            Log.e("Cannot read workspace file", e);
+            return false;
+        }
+        return true;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/workspaces/sample1/sample1.dlangidews b/workspaces/sample1/sample1.dlangidews
index b7ea1a0..a3f0926 100644
--- a/workspaces/sample1/sample1.dlangidews
+++ b/workspaces/sample1/sample1.dlangidews
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@
 	"description": "Sample workspace 1 for testing of DLANG IDE",
 	"projects": {
 		"sampleproject1": "./sampleproject1",
-		"sampleproject2": "./sampleproject2",
+		"sampleproject2": "./sampleproject2"
 	}
 }
diff --git a/workspaces/sample1/sampleproject1/dub.json b/workspaces/sample1/sampleproject1/dub.json
index 70a1d94..f363afb 100644
--- a/workspaces/sample1/sampleproject1/dub.json
+++ b/workspaces/sample1/sampleproject1/dub.json
@@ -7,5 +7,5 @@
 
     "targetName": "sample1",
     "targetPath": "bin",
-    "targetType": "executable",
+    "targetType": "executable"
 }
diff --git a/workspaces/sample1/sampleproject2/dub.json b/workspaces/sample1/sampleproject2/dub.json
index 84cb24a..d706402 100644
--- a/workspaces/sample1/sampleproject2/dub.json
+++ b/workspaces/sample1/sampleproject2/dub.json
@@ -7,5 +7,5 @@
 
     "targetName": "sample2",
     "targetPath": "bin",
-    "targetType": "executable",
+    "targetType": "executable"
 }