US EditionHousing designed to combat loneliness wins top architecture award
Appleby Blue Almshouse offers 59 affordable flats with communal spaces to reduce loneliness among over-65s, setting a new benchmark for social housing design, judges said.
- On Thursday, Witherford Watson Mann Architects' Appleby Blue Almshouse won the Royal Institute of British Architects' Stirling Prize 2025, beating the Elizabeth Tower restoration and London College of Fashion campus.
- Built on the site of an old care home, the project by United St Saviour's Charity contains 59 flats subsidised for people over the age of 65 in Southwark, south London.
- The scheme features communal amenities including a roof terrace, double-height public garden room, light-filled hallways with customisable planters and benches, and a community kitchen, with jury members praising it as "high-quality" and "thoughtful".
- Judges said the project `sets an ambitious standard for social housing among older people`, positioning Appleby Blue Almshouse as a model and supporters hailed it as a valuable community resource.
- Witherford Watson Mann return to win a second Stirling Prize 12 years after Astley Castle, joining past winners like Liverpool's Everyman Theatre and the Scottish Parliament building.
23 Articles
23 Articles
Stirling 2025 Award: Appleby Blue Almshouse Social Housing Project Named Britain's Best New Building
Published on 17/10/2025 – 13:54 GMT+2 ANNOUNCEMENT Appleby Blue Almshouse, a social housing project funded by charities to radically rethink community care and senior residence, won the Stirlingel Award award for the most important architecture award in Britain. The project, based in a busy area of Bermondsey in East London, won the title of the best new building at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for its creation of “high quali…
Prize-winning social housing radically reinvents homes for elderly
A hopeful and imaginative approach to social housing that focuses on comfort, community and socialization has earned Appleby Blue Almshouse the UK's top architecture award. The Royal Institute of Architects (RIBA) praised its radical reimagining of the traditional almshouse, turning the senior housing project into something special.Continue ReadingCategory: Architecture, TechnologyTags: RIBA, Competition, Architects, Building and Construction, H…
Stirling Prize goes to Witherford Watson Mann’s anti-loneliness ‘reminagination of an almshouse’ - netMAGmedia Ltd
A social housing complex for the over-65s in Southwark, south London by Witherford Watson Mann Architects has been awarded the RIBA Stirling Prize. Replacing an abandoned care home, Appleby Blue Almshouse “radically reimagines the traditional almshouse, flipping the centuries-old typology by placing shared spaces at its heart to foster community and reduce isolation among residents,” […] The post Stirling Prize goes to Witherford Watson Mann’s a…
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