Proctor and Matthews visited Edward VI almshouses in Saffron Walden this week as part of a research trip with second year students from Anglia Ruskin School of Architecture. The almshouses, which have their origins in the 15th century, provide a unique form of social housing for vulnerable individuals within the community.

The Practice is working in collaboration with the university to conduct research into the potential of the almshouse model in alleviating the current housing crisis.

The contemporary interpretation of historic almshouse forms has also informed several of the studio’s current projects, including Steepleton Retirement Community, Tetbury and Chapter House, Lichfield for PegasusLife, as well as accommodation for the homeless at Hargood Close, Colchester for Family Mosiac. At Steepleton the residential buildings are clustered at a comfortable domestic scale around a series of open courtyards. This courtyard model, inspired by historic Cotswold farmsteads and almshouses, seeks to provide elderly residents with a sense of identity and security, and encourage the establishment of small community groupings within the wider framework of the care village.