Foster Lomas is an award-winning Architecture and Interior Design studio with over 30 years experience delivering distinctive, quality design.

Thoughtful Design, Timeless Craft:

Architecture is more than ‘just’ buildings—it’s about creating spaces that enrich lives, foster connection to the environment and last. We design with purpose, ensuring every project reflects its context while embracing craftsmanship, materials and precision.

With over 30 years of experience, our practice is founded on collaboration—between us, our clients, and the artisans who bring our designs to life. From reimagining elegant London townhouses to crafting immersive retreats in nature, our work balances simplicity with depth, warmth with refinement. Every detail is intentional, every finish considered.

Our Expertise

We offer a comprehensive range of design services:

• Architecture – Intelligent, refined spaces designed with integrity
• Interior Design – Seamless interiors that unite function and beauty
• Lighting Design – Creating atmosphere through expertly curated illumination
• Bespoke Detailing & FF&E – A tailored approach to materials, furniture, and finishes
• International Projects – Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Africa, the US, and the Caribbean
• Commercial Spaces – Thoughtfully designed workplaces and public environments
• Plot & Housing Developments – Maximising potential with intelligent, sensitive design

As a RIBA Chartered Practice operating under ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001, we hold ourselves to the highest standards, delivering innovative, enduring spaces that inspire.

We look forward to discussing your project at Stand L2, Grand Designs Live this May 2025 or come and visit us at our offices in Bermondsey.

Will & Greg

Sartfell House.

Sartfell House is situated within the UNESCO World Biosphere Landscape on the Isle of Man. The project weaves together contemporary architecture and landscape restoration to create a family home, as well as new nature reserve. This 370 sqm dwelling is more than a residence; it's a vision crafted in close collaboration with our clients—a retired scientist and teacher with deep expertise in zoology, insect neurology, and biological sciences—alongside the Manx Wildlife Trust. Their profound respect for the island's biosphere status is the project's foundation, which forms part of a broader masterplan that will include a Visitors’ Centre, also designed by us, to promote biodiversity education.

The retreat’s design integrates site-sourced stone, hand-laid by local craftsmen, with carefully considered voids to encourage local ecology, fostering harmony between architecture and landscape. A weather station was crucial to the process, collecting data to inform the building's form and orientation, especially for window placement in response to the island’s severe weather conditions. Drawing on our expertise in lighting design, we studied daylight and sunpaths to maximize natural light while controlling solar gain; windows are recessed and framed in Corten steel to reduce reflections and prevent overheating.

The upper ground floor—the living space—is punctuated by a ribbon window that evokes the feel of a bird hide, framing expansive views of the landscape. At the core of the retreat is the ‘Knowledge Centre,’ running across all three levels, symbolizing the clients’ vision for education and the environment, creating a lasting legacy for scientists, educators, and nature enthusiasts.

A staircase aligns poetically with the mountain views, crowned by a clerestory that captures shifting island light, animating the concrete interior with shafts of luminescence. The retreat is powered by sustainable energy sources: a ground-source heat pump within a lake, wind turbine, and heat recovery system, achieving zero-carbon energy use. Sartfell’s sustainable credentials have been recognized with an RIBA regional Award, in addition to a national RIBA award for Sustainability.

Atlantic Coastal House

This retreat's dramatic location on the edge of the North Atlantic Ocean presented us with a unique opportunity to create a home that not only respects its environment but also celebrates it.

Our client, the long-term owner of the existing bungalow, approached us with the desire to create a new family home that would harmonize with the rugged beauty of the Irish coastline. We embraced this challenge, drawing inspiration from the vernacular architecture and the raw, elemental nature of the site.

The design concept revolves around the traditional gable form, which we've employed as a device to frame breath-taking views of the sea. This architectural gesture not only pays homage to local building traditions but also creates a powerful visual connection between the interior spaces and the vast ocean beyond.

Our plan retains the footprint of the original bungalow, linking it with an offset gabled section. This configuration creates a series of interlinked family spaces that blur the boundaries between inside and outside, allowing occupants to fully immerse themselves in the coastal environment.

The material palette is deeply rooted in the local context. Inspired by the presence of granite walls in the landscape and adjacent ruins, we've incorporated robust granite walls into our design. These walls are strategically positioned to maximize solar gain during the winter months, enhancing the home's energy efficiency. The roof, clad in traditional slate, maintains a low profile when viewed from the beach. We've integrated solar panels on the south-facing slope, carefully concealed to preserve the aesthetic integrity of the design while harnessing renewable energy.

Sustainability is at the core of this project. We've leveraged the site's orientation and natural resources to create a home that approaches Net Zero Energy rating. This includes passive solar design, high-performance insulation, and state-of-the-art mechanical systems that work in concert with the building's form and materials.

The result is a home that is both a sanctuary for family life and a testament to sensitive, sustainable design. It stands as a model for how contemporary architecture can respond to and enhance even the most challenging and beautiful of natural settings.

Bukit Lawang Lodge, Sumatra Indonesia

The opportunity to design a building on the remote island of Sumatra, west of Java, was a rare opportunity to create an entirely sustainable structure using materials which were all locally sourced and from renewable forestry habitats. The island is of extraordinary beauty with a vivid nature, almost palpable in its typology of volcanic mounds which rise up steeply from the foot of lake beds. The island is one of the Sunda islands off western Indonesia and the second largest after Borneo of the Greater Sunda Islands, in the Malay Archipelago.

The commission, a trekking retreat on a site adjacent to an orangutang sanctuary, is nestled into the edge of a river. The design is inspired by the nomadic nests constructed by the Sumatra orangutans which are built within the treetops of the forest and freshly constructed each day. These constructions are made from bending branches often creating canopies to protect the animals from the tropical rain fall.

The building’s plan offers flexibility so that the structure can operate as a private residency whilst also hosting tourist accommodation. An external wrapping provides a shelter under which the three nests are positioned offering prime views on to the river and forest area. One nest is separated as independent guest accommodation by a structural gabion wall using local river stones whilst the other two nests provide a home for the client’s family. The wrapped roof is made from corrugated metal, a locally sourced material as well as being monkey proof.