Residential Designed to Combat Loneliness Secures Leading Building Design Honor
An innovative version of the traditional almshouse, expressly designed to tackle solitude, has earned a prestigious architecture prize for Britain's top new building.
This new almshouse, which supplies reasonably priced flats for senior citizens in Southwark, has secured this year's Royal Institute of British Architects' (Riba) Stirling Prize.
The development, located in Bermondsey, includes 59 apartments along with collective facilities, such as a rooftop garden, courtyard and shared kitchen.
These Stirling Prize committee said it "creates an ambitious benchmark for affordable homes targeting older people".
Designers Witherford Watson Mann have developed "excellent" and "well-planned" areas to foster atmospheres that truly look after their inhabitants", according to a judge.
This building was praised for its "spacious" homes, clay-paved corridors with benches and plants, and a fountain that gives the building the "feeling of a natural sanctuary".
All this establishes an "aspirational residential setting" that stands "very different from the clinical atmosphere frequently found in senior accommodation".
The Appleby Blue Almshouse was erected on the location of an former care home by a non-profit, which funds the units for individuals on limited budgets.
Community residences were conventionally built from the historical times to supply benevolent shelter for people in poverty.
This development beat a selection of other shortlisted buildings and design projects to secure this year's Stirling Prize, from the restoration of the Elizabeth Tower in London to a new design school, a science laboratory and an "innovative" house addition.
These additional finalists included:
- The restored Elizabeth Tower
- Another architectural project
The honor is awarded to the development judged to be "the most influential of the year for the evolution of architecture and the constructed surroundings", and is judged on factors such as design vision, creativity and distinctiveness.
It is Witherford Watson Mann's second occasion as award-winning designers, a dozen years after they were selected for their design for a groundbreaking modern vacation property within the old heritage building in the county.
The major transport project - London's cross-city train line - received the prestigious award the previous year.
Other earlier winners of the accolade - first presented in 1996 - comprise Merseyside's performance space, coastal landmark and the government structure in the Scottish capital.
