118 HEALTHCARE
Blue’s design, and its programming, are trying to address. ‘Te lounge and the community kitchen will be used by everyone in the neighbourhood, bringing generations together,’ said Martin Craddock, chief executive of UStSC, at the launch. ‘Older people here want to feel they are part of the community and can be seen to contribute to it.’
Te design of the home is one of three key platforms for the Appleby Blue model, says
Benzimra, with resident support and community engagement playing equally important roles. Te aim is to keep residents active and socialising with programmed events such as regular film nights, community gardening in the rooftop garden, as well as themed activities around food and cooking, which are also open to the local community. Researcher Dr Sophia Amenyah is in charge of this activity strand, through the programme she
runs at Bournemouth University, and the Lemonade Community Food Model for Older People. Craddock concluded: ‘Tis is what social housing for older people in inner cities should be.’
In another sign of progress for the UK landscape, in 2023, a later living building won the RIBA Stirling Prize for the first time in the award’s history, given to Mae Architects’ inspirational John Morden day care centre at
CASE STUDY
JOHN MORDEN DAYCARE CENTRE
To the delight of many, Mae Architects won the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2023 for the John Morden Centre (JMC), an uplifting daycare centre within a historic and landscaped setting for the social, cultural and health benefits of the 300 or so retirees who live around it. Morden College is a charitable provider of later life housing for professionals in reduced circumstances, set on a campus in Blackheath that includes a building attributed to the legendary Sir
Christopher Wren. Built in 1695 by Sir John Morden to house destitute seamen returned from overseas, the scheme has subsequently expanded, but in a piecemeal fashion, to spread across two adjacent sites. The JMC was designed to bring all shared activities into the heart of the campus, in a building that is sympathetic to the Wren building and its cloisters. For the initial vision, CEO David
Rutherford-Jones had been inspired by the transformational impact on patient experience of the Maggie’s cancer caring buildings and asked Mae Architects to respond in that spirit. It did so – and how – by creating a tranquil, contemporary oasis through a sequence of brick-faced,
timber-lined, CLT-framed, pavilions arranged along a wooden colonnade. Featuring workshops, arts space, café, library and medical centre, the JMC now forms a welcoming, sociable heart to the community, alleviating loneliness and isolation. Practice founder and director Alex Mae says that journeys to and through the building are key, with integral seating provided at many points for those in need of rest: ‘The aim was to make circulation… a joyous experience. You can sit and relax and enjoy the passing of the day, or inclement weather, catch up with friends. Part of the strength of the building is that… there are visual clues as to what’s going on so it encourages residents to take part.’
Client Morden College Architects Mae Architects GIA 911m2 Completed 2021
Contractor Clive Graham Associates
Structural engineer Michael Hadi Associates Interior design
Scott-Masson Interior Design Landscape architect J&L Gibbons
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