DSDHA were selected by the Olympic Delivery Authority and LendLease to design a new residential tower on a landmark triangular ‘gateway’ site to the Olympic Village, East London.
Vesta House is the tallest building in the village, it was completed 2011.
The design provides 120 apartments which were temporarily subdivided to house the athletes during the 2012 Olympic Games, and subsequently reconfigured as 1 and 2 bedroom apartments.
Most interestingly, the project comprises both private housing and affordable social housing in a uniquely mixed built form. The building mixes the tenure of the occupants that is highly unusual in the UK where, traditionally, different forms of tenure are kept separate for ease of management. It is an exemplar of investment in the emerging private residential rented sector.
The apartments are organised around a unique atrium which provides a protected shared space to the building. This brings a sense of community and luxury without having an additional budget to the surrounding blocks in the Olympic Village. Externally, the balconies gradually shift across the building’s facades responding to daylighting analysis to maximise the environmental orientation of each apartment, and to create a sense of landscape responding to the site’s geology.
Structural Engineer: AKTII
Services Engineer: Hoare Lea
Environmental Engineers: Arup
Delivery Architect: PRP
