A pale pink house covered in oversized arches now stands on a street of grey brick in Gospel Oak, North London. Architect Peter Morris has completed Cloud House, a pair of adjoining three-storey homes whose palette draws on miami art deco architecture. Its curved facade and scalloped rooflines make the building the most unusual sight on the block.
The architectural references start with the building across the road. Directly opposite stands the Grade I-listed St Martin’s Church, a Victorian Gothic landmark. Morris reduced the church’s ornate arches to a bolder, flatter graphic shape and enlarged them for his own facade. Railway viaducts, with their repeating arches, offered a second reference.
Nearby, St Martin’s Hall houses a French school behind a stone front that looks like a medieval castle. Morris has said he became “fixated on arches”, and the motif now runs through the building’s windows, openings, balustrades and interior details.
Miami art deco architecture as a colour source
The colour scheme comes from a different source. Morris and his wife, television producer Emily Kennedy, spent their honeymoon in Miami, where pastel art deco architecture made a lasting impression. The house carries that memory of miami art deco architecture in pale pink render, with duck-egg blue metalwork framing the tall windows and gates.
Cloud House’s bold pastels have a long lineage, and six historic buildings celebrated for bold colour show how far that tradition reaches.
Foam forms over a conventional frame
Beneath the decoration, the structure is ordinary. A steel and blockwork frame carries the building. The sculptural arches are not structural. They are made from dense, recyclable polystyrene that Build-Lite supplied, then coated for waterproofing and finished in textured pink render.
Morris worked on site and placed the curved elements himself. He positioned the sculptural elements himself to achieve the precise geometry of the facade.
Morris later developed the same arch language through his Possible Impossible Pavilion for Clerkenwell Design Week, according to Peter Morris Architects. That structure used interconnected arches built from a similar lightweight material.
Inside the family home
Morris and Kennedy’s home covers 133 square metres. The ground floor opens into a combined living and kitchen room with pale turquoise epoxy flooring. Pink-and-white marquee stripes run across the ceilings. The kitchen is emerald green, and its striped cabinetry in green and white comes from Plykea. A three-metre pale pink island sits at the centre.
Bold colour, a nod to miami art deco architecture, continues into the bathrooms. Painted arches and rounded doorways carry the exterior’s shapes indoors. A home office sits at the front of the ground floor.
Upstairs, the bedrooms occupy the two upper floors. A four-metre turquoise skylight opens onto a roof terrace. Pink scalloped walls enclose the terrace, and an outdoor bathtub overlooks Gospel Oak.
The neighbouring 165-square-metre home reverses the layout. Its bedrooms sit on the lower floors, while the living area occupies the top floor under barrel-vaulted ceilings. A terrace provides more outdoor space. The interior was left open so the neighbouring owners can personalise it.
Years of planning and a shared build
Cloud House took nearly a decade to complete. Five of those years went to planning with Camden Council. The two homes replaced an existing Victorian building on the site and were developed by their separate owners. Morris and Kennedy’s home was completed in August 2026.
Channel 4’s Grand Designs has featured the project. Open House Festival London also included it in its 2026 programme, where visitors could experience the building in person. Peter Morris Architects places the design within Postmodernism, a style that embraces colour, ornament and humour, and links it to the emerging idea of New London Fabulous.
For another take on ornament and sacred form, Le Corbusier’s Ronchamp Chapel through a photographer’s lens offers a useful contrast with Cloud House’s sculptural arches.
The project raises a question about decoration. When does an ornament become part of the architecture? In Gospel Oak, the arches are dense, recyclable polystyrene, yet they define the building’s identity. That answer may be the most persuasive part of Cloud House.
Sources & Links
Source: designboom.com
Frequently asked questions
Where is Cloud House located in London?
Cloud House stands on a street of grey brick in Gospel Oak, North London. It is a pair of adjoining three-storey homes designed by architect Peter Morris.
What material are the sculptural arches on Cloud House made from?
The arches are made from dense, recyclable polystyrene supplied by Build-Lite, then coated for waterproofing and finished in textured pink render. They are not structural, as the building is carried by a steel and blockwork frame.
How long did it take to complete Cloud House?
Cloud House took nearly a decade to complete, and five of those years went to planning with Camden Council. The two homes replaced an existing Victorian building on the site.
Why does Cloud House use pink and pastel colours?
The colour scheme draws on Miami art deco architecture, which architect Peter Morris and his wife Emily Kennedy saw on their honeymoon in Miami. The house uses pale pink render with duck-egg blue metalwork to recall that pastel style.
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