Second Home is doubling the size of its unique East London startup space and is building a 'huge indoor lake'

The expansion, which includes 50 new private studios, will take Second Home to over 50,000 sq ft.

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Second Home was cofounded by Rohan Silva, former senior policy advisor to prime minister David Cameron and creator of the government’s Tech City initiative, and Sam Aldenton, cofounder of Feast food festival and founder of the Dalston Roof Park.

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The space just off Brick Lane in East London has been developed in a former carpet factory. The new floors will feature a library, new silent working areas, and an additional events space.

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The new floors will feature trees and plants that run from floor-to-ceiling. The trees will be under low-energy full spectrum LED lights and planted in a soil-free hydroponic irrigation system.

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Business Insider understands the top floor will be flooded, and will include a "huge indoor lake."

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Silva posted this photo of the new Second Home floors on Instagram at the start of October. Second Home is throwing a series of parties and events in the empty space between now and early next year. These include parties with Niklas Zennstrom’s VC fund Atomico, a special event with Vice Media to celebrate their women’s channel Broadly - as well as a "huge" Halloween party at the end of October.

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Second Home was designed by the Spanish architects Selgas Cano, who also created this year’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion. Second Home bought the Pavilion, and it's taking it to Los Angeles next year to host a pop-up programme of art, music and film screenings.

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Many of the people working at Second Home are young entrepreneurs from companies like Bulb, which claims to have the lowest tariffs of any renewable energy company in the UK.

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Here is an office that Selgas Cano designed for itself in Madrid.

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Recent visitors to Second Home include fashion designer Stella McCartney, singer Annie Lennox, designer Thomas Heatherwick, Sir Richard Branson, author Dave Eggers and the chef Ruth Rogers.

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Richard Branson hosted the finals of a Virgin Media startup competition called Pitch to Rich at Second Home in June.

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