Prioritising Repurposed Materials: Bermonds Locke London by Holloway Li.

Reception and co-working zones at Bermonds Locke.

London-based design consultancy Holloway Li has recently completed Bermonds Locke, a 143-room urban retreat focused on sustainability located in Bermondsey, South London. Housed within the concrete shell of a former office block, this is the first in a series between Holloway Li and Locke that explores the home-meets-hotel concept.

Electric, surreal and dreamlike the designers took inspiration from California’s Joshua Tree and the Navajo to create a desert informed aesthetic that can be felt throughout all the spaces.

The reception is drenched in moonlight by what at first glance seems like an apparition but is in fact a bespoke moonlight installation, an ode to The Weather Project by Olafur Eliasson – when combined with a mirrored ceiling, it gives the viewer a sense of fantastical limitlessness.

Related: Locke at Broken Wharf Hotel in London by Grzywinski+Pons.

Restaurant & Bar.

Courtyard area.

Locke Guest Rooms.

Considered use of repurposed and recycled materiality is at the heart of this design. Alex Holloway and Na Li, co-founders of Holloway Li say: “By innovating the reuse of materials, we hope to highlight how a circular material economy can generate an incredibly unique aesthetic and a new kind of living experience – doing more, with less.”

Harnessing this potential of upcycling, the co-working spaces, bar and restaurant utilise construction site materials such as repurposed engineering bricks and steel rebar that form decorative ironwork and joinery elements. Terracotta building blocks form the skirting of the planters while up-cycled concrete testing cubes form plinths for the six-metre long terrazzo table in the workspace and bar frontage that creates a space rich in unusual tonality. Pairing this with iridescent rainbow metal finishes on bar tops and wall panels, achieved through zinc passivation, captures the psychedelic essence of a glittering mirage.

Bermonds Locke Material Vignettes.

Alex Holloway and Na Li of Holloway Li.

Material palette. Photo by Sophie Percival.

Imbuing the studio apartments with the gradient of a desert sunset visitors will find the upper floors dipped in blue, beige and grey hues and saturated vibrant reds on the lower floors. In a city not known for its sunny weather, the warmth of these spaces is a welcome respite.

This latest project by Holloway Li sees the studio’s low impact approach to materiality fully realised and in the process, they have created a project with a unique voice that speaks to the future of design.

Explore more Locke Hotels on Yellowtrace here.

[Words by Erin Christie. Photography by Edmund Dabney, Nicholas Worley & Sophie Percival.]