This video spotlights the Wraxall Yard holiday accommodation by Clementine Blakemore Architects, which is one of six projects shortlisted for this year’s RIBA Stirling Prize.
The project in Dorset is one of a trio of reuse projects on the shortlist, which is the focus of this short film series being published by Dezeen in collaboration with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
The 19th-century agricultural buildings of Wraxall Yard in Dorset were completely overhauled by London-based Clementine Blakemore Architects, which turned them into a group of five accessible holiday homes as well as a community space and workshop.
Clementine Blakemore Architects founder Clementine Blakemore explained that accessibility was a key part of the design from the initial concept.
“The client for the project, Nick Reid, had personal experience through his mother who had multiple sclerosis, of the challenges for people in wheelchairs or with a range of disabilities in finding attractive, comfortable, fully inclusive holiday accommodation,” explained Clementine Blakemore in the video.
“He realised that a lot of places simply weren’t inclusive or the inclusive features had been retrofitted – so people who deserved the nicest holiday experiences were actually being really shortchanged in terms of environments they were offered,” she continued.
“The ambition here was to create a really really beautiful place where people could come and relax and engage with the natural world and feel comfortable and independent.”
Wraxall Yard is the focus of the fifth video in the series following Park Hill Phase 2 by Mikhail Riches, The National Portrait Gallery by Jamie Fobert, Chowdry Walk social housing in London by Al-Jawad Pike and the Elizabeth Line infrastructure by studios Grimshaw, Maynard, Equation and Atkins.
Tomorrow we will feature the final projects on the Stirling Prize shortlist – the King’s Cross Masterplan by Allies and Morrison and Porphyrios Associates.
The film was produced by the RIBA. The photography is by Lorenzo Zandri.
