Photos: The ‘radical’ housing complex that beat Big Ben to win prestigious UK architecture award
Appleby Blue Almshouse has been awarded the RIBA Stirling Prize 2025 for the best new architecture in the United Kingdom, beating the Elizabeth Tower and London College of Fashion.
Awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the Stirling Prize has been presented since 1996 and is among the most prestigious architecture awards in the world.
Appleby Blue Almshouse replaces an abandoned care home with a ‘radical reimagination’ of a traditional almshouse design, focusing on shared spaces to reduce isolation and encourage social interaction between residents.
Designed by Witherford Watson Mann Architects, the development comprises 59 bright and spacious flats arranged around a central garden courtyard.
Trees, plants, and a water feature are dotted throughout the building, which features terracotta paved hallways connecting the flats.
Appleby Blue Almshouse beat several other impressive contenders for this year’s Stirling Prize, including the London College of Fashion and the redesigned Elizabeth Tower, the globally recognisable clock tower which enshrines Big Ben in Westminster.
“Designing social housing for later life is too often reduced to a simple provision of service. Appleby Blue, however, is a provision of pure delight,” said Ingrid Schroder, Director of The AA School of Architecture on behalf of the RIBA Stirling Prize Jury.
“This project is a clarion call for a new form of housing at a pivotal moment. Built against the backdrop of two crises, an acute housing shortage and a growing loneliness epidemic among older people, Appleby Blue offers a hopeful and imaginative response, where residents and the surrounding community are brought together through the transformative nature of the design.”
Stephen Witherford of Witherford Watson Mann Architects said the complex was designed to address the social and economic challenges faced by older people in the UK’s inner cities.
“Working closely and imaginatively with United St. Saviour’s Charity, we’ve created an environment that reduces loneliness, encourages connection, and supports a good later life,” Witherford said.
“The charity has made social housing aspirational, enabling people to grow old locally with the right support, benefiting both residents and the wider Southwark community.”
“We’re honoured that the RIBA Stirling Prize recognises the power of architecture to create places that genuinely transform lives,” he said.
Appleby Blue Almshouse
Images sourced from Witherford Watson Mann Architects. Photography: Philip Vile.
Appleby Blue Almshouse – Floorplan
