Two innovative architecture firms, Architecture 00 and Gibson Thornley, are working to transform the self-storage industry by creating facilities that blend storage with community spaces, co-working areas, and light industrial uses. Developer Compound challenged both practices to reimagine how self-storage facilities can better serve their users and integrate into urban high streets rather than being relegated to industrial outskirts.

Both firms are currently awaiting approval for separate urban storage projects in London. Architecture 00's scheme is planned for Peckham in south London, while Gibson Thornley's proposal targets New Barnet in north London. These groundbreaking designs combine traditional storage with co-working spaces, community areas, and even light industrial functions. If approved and successful, these integrated inner-city facilities could permanently change how people think about and use self-storage spaces – potentially allowing customers to grab a flat white coffee and take a Teams video call while accessing their storage units.

According to Architecture 00's Lynton Pepper, existing storage facilities are fundamentally flawed in their design and emotional impact. "Existing storage facilities are soulless, often devoid of any warmth or activity – even hostile," Pepper explains. "They are not places you really want to go." He points out a crucial oversight in current facility design: "The sad reality is that a significant proportion of storage units are still used after a major life disruption, such as the death of a relative or breakdown of a relationship. As such, they can be unexpectedly quite emotional spaces. Yet how emotionally receptive is a closed-off shed on a retail or industrial park?"

Location represents another major challenge with traditional storage facilities. Gibson Thornley director Matt Thornley notes that "traditionally, storage sites sit on the outskirts of towns and cities and are often hidden [and] tucked away in-between spaces." However, these limitations have actually informed the design philosophy behind their new approach to self-storage architecture.

Architecture 00's five-story south London scheme has been specifically designed for an already cleared plot, with careful attention to its fragmented and eclectic context along the main road between Peckham and Camberwell. "It also reflects a more domestic [rather] than industrial feel," Pepper explains. The ground floor has been designed to give back to the neighborhood, offering passive surveillance to an unsupervised pedestrian path that leads to nearby homes. The firm's proposals include an active frontage as the building turns the corner, complemented by planted decks that provide a human-scale element to the structure.

The upper floors of Architecture 00's Peckham proposal take design cues from their surroundings, particularly matching the materiality of a standout neighboring Peter Barber Architects housing scheme that features distinctive tall, stepped massing. In response, their facade incorporates a brick texture with a syncopated rhythm using a warm, non-industrial color palette. The goal, according to Pepper, is that the completed building "should invite you in."

Meanwhile, in north London, Gibson Thornley has submitted plans for a lower-rise building that Thornley says "repairs the street frontage in Great North Road." Similar to the Peckham scheme, this project aims to be domestic in scale and feel. The linear Gibson Thornley proposal achieves this by responding in height and rhythm to surrounding pre-war and post-war homes. The design showcases the integrity and energy efficiency of its metallic and precast concrete construction, which the practice says was inspired by early High-Tech architecture by renowned architects Richard Rogers, Norman Foster, and Nicholas Grimshaw. "We wanted our building to do the same," Thornley explains.

Both schemes address current urban living and working needs that have evolved significantly in recent years. These hybrid developments respond to how people live, work, and require quick access to stored possessions. Each design was developed with the probability of evolving future uses in mind, meaning the plans needed to be both flexible and energy efficient to adapt to an ever-changing urban environment.

Architecture 00's Pepper explains the practical benefits of their approach: "By co-locating storage and shared workspaces onto the high street, you allow small and start-up businesses to have a public facing presence, including those set up during Covid that have now outgrown their houses." Additionally, today's housing market typically provides smaller living spaces, creating a demand for inner-city storage that can be accessed at short notice. As a result, Architecture 00's Peckham scheme is designed to function as a convenient urban attic space, offering stability between moves. The flexible design means that storage space could potentially be converted into office space in the future.

Thornley articulates the broader vision behind these innovative projects: "We are going through a period of great change and uncertainty within the built environment, and many of the old assumptions no longer hold. Creating clever hybrid buildings offers an exciting opportunity, embracing change and focusing on good design for all that supports the way we live in cities."

The success of these initial projects could lead to broader expansion of the concept. Gibson Thornley is reportedly exploring other London sites in partnership with Compound, while Architecture 00 is working with the same developer on a similar scheme in Guildford. These pioneering projects represent a significant shift toward more thoughtful, community-integrated urban storage solutions that could reshape the entire self-storage industry.