Lantern Community Trust
Designing a Specialist Creative Arts and Social Centre for Individuals with Diverse Learning Abilities
Set within the biodiverse green belt of Ringwood, Hampshire, Footprint Architects collaborated with the Lantern Community Trust to deliver a sensitive development that enhances the long-standing Lantern Community with a new creative arts centre and social hub.
Designed across two modest timber buildings nestled around a garden courtyard, the project meets the evolving needs of an ageing population with learning disabilities. The proposal prioritises minimal physical and visual impact, aligning with both the ecological sensitivity of the setting and the values of the community it serves.
The Lantern Community is a charitable organisation, run partly on donations and the work and help of volunteers. It is a member of the Association of Camphill Communities. Camphill has been growing since the first community was founded in 1940 at Camphill House, near Aberdeen, and it now offers a large support network for children, young people and adults with learning difficulties, mental health problems and other support needs.
Net-Zero and Nature-Positive Design
The new buildings were designed to be net-zero in operation and support long-term ecological health. Key sustainability features include:
- Timber frame construction using natural woodfibre insulation
- Solar PV array
- Air source heat pump
- Deep overhangs and north facing roof windows for passive solar management and ventilation
- Green roofs that support biodiversity and reduce runoff
- Minimised footprint and visual impact, preserving openness of the green belt
- Ecological enhancements such as native planting
The project aligns with Passivhaus principles, minimises embodied carbon, and meets stringent care design standards, creating a healthy, adaptable environment.
Enhancing a Long-Standing Community Site
The two new buildings will be sensitively introduced within the long-established Lantern Community, which has occupied the Sheiling Estate since before its designation as green belt in 1980. Designed to meet the urgent need for adapted spaces as residents age and require more complex care, the new creative arts hub and social centre are to provide essential facilities that uphold the Lantern’s nationally recognised role in supported living.
Their modest scale, low visual impact and strategic placement ensure continuity of care, dignity, and accessibility for current and future companions, while reinforcing the ecological and community values embedded in the site.
Designing for Inclusive Living
The project supports over 50 adults with learning disabilities – known within the Lantern Community as ‘companions’ – and responds to an increasing need for specialist, accessible facilities. By delivering new creative arts workshops and a multi-function gathering space, the design enhances quality of life, personal growth, and inclusive social connection.
As part of a wider community that includes staff, co-workers, volunteers, and visiting families, the spaces support the organisation’s deeply held values: dignity, belonging, contribution, and shared cultural life. The new facilities allow the community to respond to demographic change, including increased care needs and ageing companions, in a way that preserves the village-like atmosphere and spirit of mutual support.
Life at The Lantern Community
The Lantern Community offers adults with learning difficulties a unique setting that supports stable home life, meaningful work, friendship, and social interaction.
Facilities include an art studio, bakery, horticultural nursery, pottery, weavery, and seasonal craft workshop, each providing opportunities for personal growth, adult learning, and cultural or spiritual inspiration.
At its heart is the Lantern Centre, a purpose-built building open to the public that includes a shop, café, and bookshop—creating a welcoming space for connection and shared experience.
Recognising the growing needs of its ageing community, the Lantern Trust approached Footprint Architects to design new creative workshop and social spaces that would complement the existing estate while delivering accessible, sustainable environments for care, creativity, and community life.
Responding to the Landscape
Located within the Southeast Dorset Green Belt, the project’s design draws from the woodland setting and seasonal rhythms of the site. The creative arts hub is accessed via a meandering walkway, enhancing biodiversity while reducing ground impact. A low-profile, sloping green roof reduces visual bulk and integrates the buildings into the landscape, while north-facing glazing ensures natural light and passive ventilation.
Local, untreated timber celebrates natural materials, reduces embodied carbon, and roots the building in its forest-edge context.
Landscaping strategies echo the community’s values and the site layout mirrors The Lantern Community’s logo, which represents a spiral of support, around a central, meaningful and safe space, creating spaces for quiet reflection, and connection to nature.
Supporting Evolving Care Needs Locally and Nationally
The development directly responds to growing demand for specialist supported living, both locally and across the UK. Like many similar facilities, the Lantern Community operates at near full capacity, with minimal vacancies to accommodate new referrals. The need for enhanced, future-proofed facilities is therefore clear. These new buildings align with Dorset Council’s strategy to provide adaptable, clustered accommodation and stimulating, safe day services for individuals with complex needs. As a nationally recognised model of supported living, the Lantern Community’s evolution shows how third-sector care providers can lead the way in creating person-centred, sustainable environments that promote long-term independence and wellbeing.
This new hub strengthens a unique intentional community, providing space for creativity, gathering and care. It safeguards the future of a nationally important social model, while setting a benchmark for green belt-sensitive, inclusive design.
See more community-centred sustainable buildings by Footprint Architects.
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