In designing The Stratford, a 42-story residential tower in one of London's most dramatically changing neighborhoods, SOM aspired to create a new model for high-rise living. The unconventional design is the result of an integrated approach to architecture and structural engineering. The tower combines various apartment types and a five-star hotel, mixing these elements together in novel configurations. The facade is defined by "sky gardens" carved dramatically out of the building’s profile.

A uniquely engineered concrete and steel frame and double-cantilevered design allows the incorporation of the sky gardens. These shared open spaces create opportunities for residents to meet and interact, with spectacular views of the London skyline.

The hotel superstructure consists of reinforced concrete walls and columns, extending from the ground floor to the underside of the roof terrace at level 8. A central reinforced concrete core continues from the hotel into the residential tower above. At levels 10 and 28, a single-story grid of post-tensioned concrete transfer walls cantilevers from the core. In turn, these trusses support exterior structural steel columns and floor framing for the residential floors above, while creating the ceiling plane for multistory sky gardens below.