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Wembley ARK debuts as a 300-room serviced apartment offering in the Wembley Park neighborhood
Words by: Will Speros • Photos courtesy of ARK
Wembley ARK debuts as a 300-room serviced apartment offering in the Wembley Park neighborhood
Words by: Will Speros • Photos courtesy of ARK
Co-living brand ARK has made its debut as a community-focused rental concept with its first location in the Wembley Park section of London. Designed by locally based studio Holloway Li, the flexible serviced model contains 300 units that provide lodging for as little as two nights or as long as a year. The hybrid live-work destination, located within a former hotel, was crafted to serve as a reprieve from city life, with capacious public spaces that blend traditional typologies of the post-COVID era.
“Our design concept for Wembley ARK aims to foster a sense of community through a series of domestic, intimate spaces that are underpinned by a low impact design approach,” says Holloway Li creative director and cofounder Alex Holloway. “We began by researching the history of collective living to understand how to build a resilient long-term community, while catering for a variety of desires and interests.”
Interiors are populated with furniture and found objects selected to compose a residential atmosphere with furnishings are accumulated and collected over time. “Every element was curated carefully, allowing the space to feel as if it had developed organically and feel ‘lived in’ as a house might,” Holloway adds.
Among the public areas are a communal kitchen, dining area, lounge, multimedia room, Peloton spin studio, laundry room, yoga and wellbeing space, and fitness center. Coworking amenities include private meeting rooms and booths for privacy. Crowning the property is a 3,500-square-foot landscaped rooftop terrace that frames panoramic vistas of central London. A back garden is also featured on the rooftop, lined with allotment beds guests can use to grow produce.
Each of the private studios are fully furnished with functional storage, a bespoke table, corner sofa, kitchenette, and double bed. “Rooms are demarcated by joinery elements, such as textured and translucent screens and partitioned seating areas, balancing flexibility with modularity and spatial efficiency,” says Holloway Li managing director and cofounder Na Li. “Inspired by the interiors of canal boats and playing on the idea of the ‘Ark,’ we used timber shelving and paneling, subtly reminiscent of a traditional drawing room, to break down large open plan areas while retaining a convivial openness.” Additionally, floor-to-ceiling windows illuminate the subtle color palette of sage, sand, and taro, and enhance the emanating warmth.
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