Four housing projects, including an apartment complex in east London and a development for the elderly in Yorkshire, have been shortlisted for RIBA's 2023 Neave Brown Award for Housing.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) announced that A House for Artists by Apparata Architects, New Lodge Community by PRP, Agar Grove Phase 1b by Mae and Taylor Court, Chatto Court and Wilmott Court on the Frampton Park Estate by Henley Halebrown have been shortlisted for the prize.
The prize is an annual award that acknowledges leading examples of affordable houses in the United Kingdom. It was created in honour of acclaimed modernist architect and social housing trailblazer Neave Brown following his death in 2018.
The 2023 shortlist was selected by a panel of judges that includes Peter Barber Architects director Alice Brownfield, associate director at Maccreanor Lavington Prisca Thielmann and son of Neave Brown and design director at Smith & Brown Aaron Brown.
A House for Artists by Apparata Architects is an apartment complex in Barking, east London that was designed to provide low-cost housing and workspaces for 12 artists and their families.
The building is a five-storey concrete structure with a form that comprises a collection of stacked shapes, volumes and openings. It includes 12 apartments that sit alongside artist studios, workspaces, community areas and a shared work yard.
New Lodge Community is a development for the elderly in Yorkshire, which was created by PRP. The project saw the architecture studio redevelop an area of York's New Earswick Garden Village to create a neighbourhood that consists of 44 affordable care apartments.
The development includes a series of red brick townhouses that are topped with steep roofs and large dormers, which are connected by hedge-lined walkways and open green spaces.
"The architectural approach was inspired by the local arts and crafts vernacular, reinterpreting the key characteristics of the local conservation area," said the jury. "These include steep roofscapes, feature chimneys, recessed porch entries and consistent use of brickwork and tiles."
Agar Grove Phase 1b by architecture studio Mae is a regenerative masterplan consisting of 57 new homes, including 34 stacked marionettes, in Camden, north London.
Three housing blocks were arranged around a paved courtyard, which provides residents with accessible outdoor space. Once complete, the development is set to become the UK's largest Passivhaus scheme.
"An ambitious model of low energy, Passivhaus social housing that follows in the footsteps of past Camden architects, Mae's housing offers space, variety and generous landscaping," said the jury citation.
In Hackney, three blocks designed by Henley Halebrown – Taylor Court, Chatto Court and Wilmott Court – on the Frampton Park Estate were also shortlisted for the award.
Taylor & Chatto Courts consist of 16 social-rent homes and four shared-ownership homes that are set within three, five-storey villas. Wilmott Court consists of a five-storey palazzo that contains 15 shared ownership and 10 private-tenure homes.
The winner of this year's Neave Brown Award for Housing will be announced at the RIBA Stirling Prize ceremony that takes place on Thursday 19 October 2023 at the Victoria Warehouse in Manchester.
"This is a really exciting shortlist illustrating that housing design has a significant role to play in helping address wider societal issues and, moreover, that social and affordable housing is often at the forefront of this," said Brownfield.
"At a time when the cost of living is among the most pressing issues of the day, these examples of affordable housing outline possibilities for a better future," said RIBA president Simon Allford. "We need more homes, that are better designed in terms of amenity, carbon, context, community and culture – we must focus on them all."
"Collectively, these schemes help raise the bar for architecture with purpose, showing how forward-thinking design can enrich the lives of both residents and the wider community," he continued.
Last year's Neave Brown Award for Housing was awarded to Hackney New Primary School and 333 Kingsland Road, which was designed by Henley Halebrown.
The project was among three other buildings shortlisted in the 2022 award, Peter Barber Architect's Kiln Place and John Pardey Architect's Lovedon Fields were also shortlisted.