Maggie's Cancer Center opens at St James University Hospital, Europe's largest hospital base for medical schools: this is the 26th Maggie's foundation, dedicated to the death of cancer Maggie Kezwick-Jenks, landscape architect and wife of Charles Jencks … He and their mutual friends-architects developed her idea - to complement the faceless and cold hospital corridors with a thoughtfully designed "humane", almost home space, where patients of oncology departments and their loved ones could receive practical advice, psychological help, relax and drink tea, read and do yoga.
Such centers, as a rule, are free-standing buildings, not easily located on densely built-up hospital campuses, where there are large oncology departments. The Maggie’s Foundation is known as a very responsible and at the same time brave client, so it is not surprising that the buildings designed for it by Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Richard Rogers, Norman Foster, Rem Koolhaas have already earned recognition from the architectural community, the jury of professional awards and their visitors.
In Leeds' case, the Maggie Center building was inscribed in a small patch of lawn around which the hospital's main driveway turns, which the ambulances follow. In order not to interfere with traffic, the construction was made in prefabricated form, so the construction of the aboveground part took only eight weeks. A structure made of glued spruce timber was mounted on a concrete base plate with a retaining wall; its components were produced in Switzerland, the wood is eco-certified.
Another feature of the site is a six-meter elevation difference, which was used in the project. The highest part of the building serves as a kind of "belvedere" from where you can see the picturesque valleys of the Yorkshire Dales. Yorkshire forests inspired the garden around and on the roof of the building, more precisely, on the roofs: the center consists of three pavilions, whose roofs are at different heights due to the lowering of the relief. It uses native plants that perfectly withstand the harsh climate of the north of England. Visitors can participate in the maintenance of the garden, which was invented in memory of the profession of Maggie Kezwick-Jenks. Landscaping was done by Balston Agius; planted 23,000 bulbs and 17,000 plants. Evergreen species will be used for "warming" in winter.
In the interior, the main role is played by wooden profiles, smoothly flowing from the walls to the ceilings, as if growing out of the ground. The three pavilions have a consulting room, and in the middle is the most important room of any Maggie center - the kitchen with a large table, which was also designed by Heatherwick Studio. It is made of cork and glued beech timber. On the windowsills and between the profiles, there are shelves for indoor plants and interesting gizmos that visitors will bring to make the center even more "homey". Other public areas are located in the core of the building, and a staff recreation room is located on the mezzanine floor.
There are two entrances: the main one and for employees and regular visitors. But even the main one is not perceived as an important "border", it is decorated modestly and is shifted from the axis of the path leading to the center. But the glazing of the entrance side of the building, which allows you to see the interior, provides clarity and confidence to a person who comes here for the first time, who may be in a difficult emotional state.
The structure is naturally ventilated thanks to its thoughtful orientation and shape, and the interior uses light lime plaster to help maintain optimal humidity. The wood of the walls shrinks and expands depending on the weather and the season, maintaining the organic spirit of the project at the most “basic” level.
