This is also something that strongly comes across in this issue of the AJ, which focuses on later living. I’m not sure about you, but I’d always thought of almshouses as quaint curiosities in the city, mostly irrelevant when considering how the older generation might like to live out their autumn years in the twenty-first century. Our three fascinating building studies this month have put me right.
These homes just aren’t like that. They promote activities, hobbies and interaction with fellow residents and the wider community while maintaining the individual’s freedom of choice. They can of course retreat into their own private space if they’re not feeling so sociable.
It’s great to end 2023 on a hopeful note. Until next year, we wish you and yours a merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year.
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All three projects, by Mole Architects, Mæ and Witherford Watson Mann respectively, take inspiration from the almshouse while making subtle efforts to subvert this model’s tendency to put older people in need out of sight and out of mind.
Good as Gold does a superb job of promoting the importance of Shelter’s work in combating homelessness, but it also touches on something bigger – what it is we mean by ‘home’ and how central this is to health, happiness, and social justice.
It highlights the plight of 139,000 children in England who will spend Christmas morning not in a ‘home’, but in temporary accommodation, such as cramped B&Bs, poorly converted offices or even shipping containers.
Guests at our AJ Architecture Awards last month had barely taken their seats when we showed them a truly arresting film made by our charity partner, Shelter. Good as Gold, about a little girl on her very best behaviour in the run-up to Christmas, certainly isn’t easy viewing but I’d urge you to find it on YouTube.
This type of approach doesn’t just apply to later living and there are great lessons in these pages about what’s best in designing any kind of domestic space.
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