Cloud House: Peter Morris's Pink Arch Residence in Gospel Oak

A marshmallow-pink house with oversized arches appeared on Grand Designs in September 2026, and it's still stopping pedestrians on Vicars Road in Gospel Oak, London. Cloud House, designed by Peter Morris Architects, packs two adjoining homes into a three-storey structure wrapped in sweeping curves and flashes of turquoise.

The name comes from the soft, cloudlike shapes across its exterior. Giant arches frame the windows, entrances and terraces, setting a playful rhythm along the facade. The pastel pink finish and rounded forms make the building look almost soft to the touch, as if it were molded from candy or clay. Certain details even resemble facial expressions, which gives the facade a cheerful, almost animated character.

Where did the design come from?

The references are personal. Architect Peter Morris and his wife, producer Emily Kennedy, spent their honeymoon in Miami, where the city's pastel-colored Art Deco buildings left a lasting impression. Their sweeping curves, vibrant colors and expressive forms became key references for the project. Morris also drew on the dramatic arches of nearby St Martin's Church, tying the house to its neighborhood.

Despite the fantastical look, the construction is fairly conventional. Structural steel and blockwork form the main building. The decorative arches are made from dense, recyclable Build Lite polystyrene, coated with a waterproof layer and a textured finish so the lightweight elements blend into the pink skin. Morris positioned the arches himself, adding a hands-on signature to the home's most recognizable feature.

What's inside the pink walls?

Morris and Kennedy live in the smaller of the two homes, a 133-square-meter residence where color keeps working overtime. The ground floor holds an open living, dining and kitchen space anchored by a three-meter-long pale pink island. Green-and-white striped Plykea cabinetry sits over turquoise epoxy flooring, making the kitchen feel like an extension of the animated exterior.

The playfulness runs through the whole house: colorful bathrooms, and a four-meter-long turquoise skylight leading toward the rooftop terrace. That terrace, enclosed by pink arched walls, carries an outdoor bathtub — a private escape above the city.

The neighboring residence is larger at 165 square meters. It holds four bedrooms across its lower floors and an open-plan living space on the upper level. Barrel-vaulted ceilings echo the exterior curves, while a south-facing terrace and a bigger rooftop space continue the same architectural language. Unlike Morris and Kennedy's saturated interiors, this home was delivered as a blank canvas for its owners to personalize.

What does this change for the street?

Cloud House has drawn both admiration and criticism since its Grand Designs appearance in September 2026 — proof, if any were needed, that architecture with this much personality rarely goes unnoticed. It turns ordinary residential elements into playful gestures on an otherwise everyday London street.

Whether people love the candy-colored facade or find it jarring, few walk past without looking twice. For Morris and Kennedy, a Miami honeymoon and a neighborhood church have become a permanent, very pink, part of north London's built fabric — and a demonstration that conventional steel-and-blockwork construction can carry a fairytale face.