Designed as a landmark development at the head of the Royal Victoria Docks, Hoola comprises of two elegant 23 and 24 storey residential towers, demonstrating an efficient plan that maximises views to the southeast and west. The ground floor of the Western tower has residential amenities including a residents’ lounge and gymnasium while the Eastern tower has meeting and business facilities and a commercial unit which connects with the existing commercial activities adjacent the Royal Docks. The major challenge of the scheme was the site, an amorphous shaped island and the product of highway engineering in the 1960’s. The only meaningful existing connection is the road to the east leading to the Dock. Links are severed to the north by the DLR, to the west by highway systems (soon to be expanded by the Silvertown link tunnel entrance), and to the south by the climbing Tidal Basin slip-road to the overpass. CZWG’s response to this severance was to reconnect the site by means of an artificial ‘hill’ —raising the ground plane level and shifting the ‘front door’ of the scheme from the lower to the upper Tidal Basin Road thereby creating a new street frontage on an otherwise inaccessible piece of infrastructure. This re-integrated the site with a familiar street context, and was completed by new pavements, pedestrian crossings and a bus stop. The new elevated setting also acknowledges the site’s prominence as a gateway marker for the Royal Docks and the Excel Centre, (and potentially as the terminal marker for the long-mooted River Lea pathway). The scheme sits on pilotis within a landscaped garden which serves as a common space between the towers and a level transition device between the lower and upper Tidal Basin Road. The garden also disguises car parking and cycle spaces and a mix of refuse stores and building plant. The ambition of the scheme has extended from concept to technology and construction methods. The Hoola scheme is born of form and a sense of movement that has long been present at this location. Its shape and orientation has been carefully considered to optimise the aspect and coordination of the towers while minimising overlooking between apartments. The gentle curvature of the balconies provides a ripple effect linking the buildings with the surrounding waters whilst amplifying the precision-finished precast concrete soffits of the balconies. Varying and staggered balcony widths ensure every apartment of usable but not immediately overshadowed outdoor space. “Hoola is an exciting scheme which will bring life and activity into a piece of land which was previously derelict. This development is leading the way both in its innovative design and green credentials. The regeneration of the historic Royal Docks is coming and this is the start of the area’s new era as a business and residential heart for London.” — Sir Robin Wales, Mayor of Newham.