As designers, the challenge was to design a vertical community
that would work as a modern neighborhood – that would reflect the
area’s diversity and, supporting this vital social dimension, would
encourage easy conversation and new connections. Working as
an integrated group of architects and engineers, the design team
shaped the tower’s innovative steel and concrete form to create
impressive communal spaces that would provide a natural platform
for interaction, while working from the inside-out to maximize
views and natural light.
The hotel occupies the lower six floors and is topped by the first of
three dramatic roof gardens, which are carved from the building’s
‘stacked’ profile at levels 7, 25 and 36. Each garden has a unique
character, from quiet pathways through wildflowers to a party
area, with space for barbecues and a bar. The tower’s strong social
dimension is established from the moment visitors set foot inside
the building, with a triple-height entrance lobby that is shared by
both hotel guests and apartment residents. The double cantilevers
that define the gardens also articulate this ethos, and give the
building a bold presence on the skyline, signaling the eastwards
momentum of the capital’s creative heart.
Stratford Skyscraper is a double-cantilevered tower with a
uniquely engineered concrete and steel frame that has allowed
the incorporation of three spectacular sky gardens dramatically
carved into the building’s profile. The building has an unusual
tower-structure, in which a cantilevered post-tensioned concrete
supports the majority of the floors and steel-framed perimeter
truss system at level 10 and 28.
www.som.com
THE BRIEF CENTERED ON PEOPLE AND
HOW THEY INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER
IN HIGH-RISE LIVING
The Stratford promises to combine world-class hospitality,
architecture, and art to encourage a new generation of long and
short-term guests to make the East End their home from home. A
long-stay hotel for the modern era that evokes the industry’s golden
age. A more luxurious high-rise experience for residents, with
double-height ceilings, a hotel-style concierge service, members’
club and a layout designed to foster a “vertical community”.