A London project has reinvented social housing for the elderly, favoring collective spaces.
A modern response to traditional care homes, with a design aimed at combating the potential loneliness of its residents, it was the big winner of the 2025 edition of the Stirling Prize, one of the most important in the United Kingdom, awarded every year by the Royal Institute of British Architects to what they consider the best new building built in the country.
Appleby Blue, a social housing complex with 59 apartments for over 65s located in Southwark, south London, encourages collective coexistence between residents by focusing on communal spaces, which include a roof garden, a patio and a communal kitchen.
The award jury highlighted that the project “sets an ambitious standard for social housing for older people”.
Architects Witherford Watson Mann have designed “high quality” spaces designed to create environments that demonstrate they truly care about their residents, said Ingrid Schroder, a jury member and director of the Architectural Association School of Architecture, one of the UK’s oldest architecture schools.
“Built in the context of two crises – a severe housing shortage and a growing epidemic of loneliness among older people – Appleby Blue offers a hopeful and imaginative response, where residents and the surrounding community come together through the transformative nature of the project,” he added.



The building has been praised for its “generous” apartments, corridors with terracotta floors, benches and plants, and an irrigation system that gives the building “the feel of an oasis in the woods.”
This creates an “ambitious living environment” that “contrasts sharply with the institutional climate often associated with care homes”, noted the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
Social housing for the elderly has been built in England since the Middle Ages. Appleby Blue itself was erected on the site of an abandoned nursing home.


Other finalists
Several projects competed for the prize, from the restoration of London’s Big Ben tower to a new fashion school and science laboratory.


The award is given to the building considered “the most significant of the year for the evolution of architecture and the built environment” and is judged on criteria such as visionary design, innovation and originality.
This is the second time Witherford Watson Mann has won. 12 years ago, the firm was selected to design a revolutionary summer house within the ancient Astley Castle in Warwickshire.
The Elizabeth Line, the new metropolitan rail line running east-west through London, won the prestigious award last year.
Other previous winners of the award, given since 1996, include the Everyman Theater in Liverpool, Hastings Pier and the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh.
Source: Terra

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