Winner of the RIBA Stirling Prize: Appleby Blue Almshouse by Witherford Watson Mann Architects. Image credit: Philip Vile
New British architecture was celebrated today at the anticipated announcement of the 2025 RIBA Stirling Prize: Appleby Blue Almshouse, a social housing complex for senior residents designed by Witherford Watson Mann Architects, received the prestigious annual award as the “UK’s best new building.”
The development also managed to pick up this year’s RIBA Neave Brown Award for Housing.
Appleby Blue Almshouse by Witherford Watson Mann Architects. Image credit: Philip Vile
Located in London’s Southwark district, Appleby Blue replaces an abandoned care home with a contemporary reimagining of the traditional almshouse. Designed around a central garden courtyard, the 59-home development prioritizes community and connection through shared spaces, light-filled interiors, and biophilic design.
Appleby Blue Almshouse by Witherford Watson Mann Architects. Image credit: Philip Vile
Accessible, airy units open to terracotta-paved corridors and a roof
terrace, while timber-clad communal areas and a public “garden room” are designed to foster interaction between residents and the surrounding neighborhood. The jury praised the scheme as a “pioneering model for designing high-quality housing for later living, where care and dignity are embedded into the design throughout.”
Appleby Blue Almshouse by Witherford Watson Mann Architects. Image credit: Philip Vile
“This project is a clarion call for a new form of housing at a pivotal moment,” remarked Ingrid Schroder, 2025 RIBA Stirling chair and Director of the Architectural Association School of Architecture. “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.”
Appleby Blue Almshouse by Witherford Watson Mann Architects. Image credit: Philip Vile
Appleby Blue emerged from a six-project Stirling Prize shortlist announced in September that also included high-profile designs such as Elizabeth Tower by Purcell, The Discovery Centre (DISC) by Herzog & de Meuron/BDP, and London College of Fashion by Allies and Morrison, as well as the stunning residential projects Niwa House by Takero Shimazaki Architects and Hastings House by Hugh Strange Architects.
This win follows last year’s Stirling Prize selection of the new Elizabeth Line project for the London Underground by Grimshaw, Maynard, Equation, and AtkinsRéalis.
Witherford Watson Mann Architects are no strangers to Royal Institute of British Architects awards: Appleby Blue took home a RIBA London Award earlier this year, and their Nevill Holt Opera design was a finalist for the 2019 Stirling Prize.
Video courtesy RIBA/YouTube
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