KarunaNews Story

A care home that tackles the twin issues of loneliness and a lack of affordable housing for elderly people has been crowned the UK’s best new building. Appleby Blue in south London, which won the Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling prize, features 59 rent-capped apartments, a community center and rooftop gardens. It was designed by Witherford Watson Mann Architects for United St Saviour’s Charity, a nonprofit that aims to foster community cohesion. Appleby Blue "offers a hopeful and imaginative response, where residents and the surrounding community are brought together through the transformative nature of the design,” said jury chair Ingrid Schroder, director of The Architectural Association School of Architecture. Appleby Blue has a community center on the ground floor that welcomes non-residents, many of them young mothers and their children. “Sociability is built right into the heart of this building,” said Martyn Craddock, chief executive of United St Saviour’s Charity.