Shad Thames completed

The objective of this unusual project was to colonise the redundant volume of a disused water tower above a 19th century warehouse flat, creating usable floor area out of its small footprint and providing a visual and spatial connection with a roof terrace in the shell of the redundant water tank above.

Two tightly-configured flights of stairs, stacked one above the other in a continuous top-to-bottom slot, now link two intermediate mezzanine floors, with a third stair rising from the upper mezzanine to the roof. The first mezzanine providing a work space and the second a sitting eyrie with long-reaching city views. The sum of the elements creating a natural and instinctive processional route up through the tower to the roof terrace.

Frameless skylights draw natural light down through the slot, and the eye upwards from the previously rather dark accommodation below.