Residential Designed to Address Loneliness Secures Leading Architecture Prize
An modern interpretation of the historic almshouse, deliberately designed to reduce solitude, has earned a esteemed architecture prize for Britain's best modern building.
The Appleby Blue development, which offers low-cost units for older adults in Southwark, has been granted this year's Stirling Prize by the Royal Institute of British Architects.
The complex, found in a London neighborhood, includes 59 residences plus communal spaces, featuring a garden on the roof, central courtyard and community kitchen.
These Stirling Prize committee remarked it "establishes an high benchmark for social housing for the elderly".
Architects the firm behind the project have crafted "superior" and "well-planned" areas to foster environments that really look after their residents", as stated by a panelist.
This development was praised for its "spacious" residences, terracotta-paved hallways with built-in seats and plants, and a water feature that provides the building the "atmosphere of a natural sanctuary".
That produces an "inspiring residential setting" that stands "very different from the impersonal feel typically associated with elderly housing".
This prize-winning development was erected on the grounds of an former care home by a charitable organization, which subsidises the units for individuals on limited budgets.
Charitable housing were conventionally built from the historical times to supply philanthropic housing for those in poverty.
Appleby Blue beat a range of other shortlisted buildings and architectural projects to claim this year's Stirling Prize, including the restoration of the iconic clock tower in London to a new design school, a research facility and an "creative" home extension.
These additional contenders were:
- A restored historic clock tower
- A residential property
The award is awarded to the development deemed to be "the most significant of the year for the progress of architectural design and the constructed surroundings", and is judged on standards like architectural concept, innovation and uniqueness.
It is Witherford Watson Mann's second occasion as prize-taking professionals, a dozen years after they were selected for their design for a innovative current retreat at the ancient historical castle in Warwickshire.
A major transport project - London's east-west rail line - secured the esteemed award recently.
Other past recipients of the prize - first presented in 1996 - feature Merseyside's Everyman Theatre, coastal landmark and the government structure in Edinburgh.
