Appleby Blue Almshouse, Southwark

Appleby Blue, in Southwark, represents an innovative approach to conceiving living spaces for the older generation – an almshouse for the 21st century. Witherford Watson Mann Architects was aware that one of the biggest challenges of growing older is increased isolation. The design attempts to remedy this by creating spaces that encourage chance meetings, places to chat with friends or sit together with a glass of wine and watch the world go by. 

The bulk, massing and materiality of the building offer a contemporary but appropriate response to the context. The main entrances off the local high street sit discreetly within the two-storey ‘glazed porch’ within the more public elevation. 

On turning the corners down the side streets, the building steps down to two storeys and includes bay windows to reflect the adjacent Victorian terraces and semi-detached villas. The building fills the site but steps down to the south and carves out a large linear sun-drenched courtyard at the heart of the complex. A slightly higher landscaped garden holds raised planters for residents to use, and outdoor furniture where friends meet outside to eat or chat. 

The ground-floor level is raised above the high street, encouraging residents to use the slightly elevated communal facilities and allowing them to look down onto the activity of the high street and adjacent bus stop. This is a building with transparency at its core, encouraging residents in the public spaces to see and be seen. The focus of the shared facilities is a kitchen and double-height garden room where large sliding doors face south and link to the lush courtyard garden.  

On entering the building, the activity and smells coming from the cooking lessons in the kitchen are wonderful. The double-height garden room is where residents come together for meals and various group activities. The local community is encouraged to use these spaces as well. 

Smaller, more intimate shared facilities occupy the first-floor level of the glazed porch. All living accommodation is accessed off wide internal but unheated corridors that are flooded with natural light and provide benches and shared planters outside front doors for residents to personalise. 

The architects negotiated that these spaces would be deemed private open space for purposes of planning. This is essential to providing spaces that would help grow a community rather than individual balconies off each living space.