Two jewel-cut, brick clad residential monoliths placed at the prominent southern edge of Sugar House Island.

Vastint
Bow, London
c£11 million
42 homes


  • Morris + Company’s second commission on the island
  • Scheme occupies one of the prominent and sensitive sites on the masterplan
  • Brownfield site flanked by tributaries of the River Lea
  • Design motifs of tapering roof forms, varied eave lines and eccentric gable ends directly inspired by reading of Three Mills
  • Tapering forms work to conceals central bulk of building with narrow and tall able ends
  • Plans developed to maximise views from new homes towards House MIll, with high proportion of duel and triple aspect spacious layouts
  • All apartments substantially exceed LHDG space standards with generous floor-to-ceiling heights

Client: Vastint
Structural Engineer: Engineers HRW
Services Engineer: Mott MacDonald
Sustainability Consultant: Mott Mac Donald
Heritage: Montagu Evans
Landscape: Planit-IE
Masterplan Architect: Arch-ML
Executive Architect: Bryden Wood

Exploring Internal Spaces 1:20 interior mock-up of top floor apartment dining space.
Public Realm & Mixed Use. Ground floor retail, food & drink will activate the edges of the public space.
Blocks A & B An early sketch of a developing theme for a typical plan.
Block A Garden Option A riverside walk envelopes the island, ramping down for bridge access points, with raised gardens for privacy to ground floor units.
Turning the Corner Early sketch development for gable end facade
Massing Models Honed timber massing study showing the geometry of gap allowing a connection from Sugarhouse Lane into the new public square to the south.
Massing Models Honed timber massing models showing fraternal forms side by side.
Apartment facade configurations Quick 1:20 foam board tests for dormer forms.
Massing Development The iterative model grid showing the progression from the first concept to proposal.
Ground plan Sketch summarising the setting out of the repetition of familial angles and geometry.
Option Testing Fraternal twin motif.
A Historical Context The site looks onto the rear of House Mill, the largest tidal mill in the UK. Tidal mills have been recorded on the site dating back to the C11th.
A Conservation Context The nearby the Grade-1 listed House Mill.
Historical Context Retained warehouses on the Sugarhouse Island site bring a distinctive post-industrial masonry character to the location.

MU5