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News: Norman Foster has become the latest architect to design a Maggie’s Centre offering support to cancer sufferers and has unveiled plans for a timber-framed structure and flower garden in his home town of Manchester.

The Foster + Partners-designed centre will be located at The Christie hospital in south Manchester and, like the 17 existing Maggie’s Centres around the UK, it will offer a non-clinical environment where anyone affected by cancer can stop by for advice or support.

Norman Foster, who won a battle with bowel cancer over a decade ago, has designed a lightweight timber and glass pavilion intended to “engage the outdoors” by interacting with the surrounding garden.

“This project has a particular personal significance, as I was born in the city and have first-hand experience of the distress of a cancer diagnosis,” said the architect. “I believe in the power of architecture to lift the spirits and help in the process of therapy.”

Slender timber beams and a timber lattice will support the roof and help to partition spaces. A mezzanine floor will be naturally lit from a glass roof overhead, plus a greenhouse will be added to the south end of the building to create a warm gathering space.

Foster added: “Within the centre, there is a variety of spaces – visitors can gather around a big kitchen table, find a peaceful place to think or they can work with their hands in the greenhouse. Throughout, there is a focus on natural light and contact with the gardens. The timber frame, with its planted lattice helps to dissolve the architecture into the surrounding greenery.”

Interior spaces will feature wooden surfaces and tactile fabrics, while the surrounding garden designed by landscape architect Dan Pearson will offer clusters of flowers and calming water features.

Here’s the full announcement from Foster + Partners:

Maggie’s applies for planning permission for new Norman Foster designed centre at The Christie

Maggie’s, the charity which provides practical, emotional and social support for people with cancer, has applied for planning permission for a new Maggie’s Centre in the grounds of The Christie in Manchester. The centre is designed by world-renowned architects, Foster + Partners.

Working in partnership with The Christie – a global leader in cancer treatment and research – the new Maggie’s Centre will provide free practical, emotional and social support for anyone living with cancer as well as their family and friends. The centre will significantly enhance the cancer support already offered at The Christie to include Maggie’s evidence-based core programme of support delivered in an uplifting non-clinical environment, as well as a comprehensive service of complementary therapies. The new centre is due to open in 2016.

As one of the leading architects of his generation, Lord Norman Foster’s works include an international portfolio of famous buildings including 30 St Mary Axe – otherwise known as “The Gherkin”, Hong Kong International Airport and Hearst Tower in New York. The design of the new Maggie’s Centre at The Christie is particularly personal to him as he was both born in Manchester and has had first-hand experience of the distress of a cancer diagnosis.

Set in a peaceful garden, the existing green spaces inspired the centre’s design, which draws upon natural themes that engage the outdoors. Arranged over a single storey, the natural timber structure focuses around a wide, central spine with the roof rising in the centre to create a mezzanine level beautifully illuminated with natural light. Exposed lightweight beams and timber lattice support the roof while also defining different spaces. An integrated glass house extends from the south of the building, providing a space for people to gather and enjoy the therapeutic qualities of nature and the outdoors while the interior palette combines warm, natural wood and tactile fabrics.

To complement Lord Norman Foster’s design, the surrounding gardens are designed by landscape designer Dan Pearson, combining a rich mix of spaces, from the working glass house to bright clusters of flowers and tranquil water features. The colours and sensory experience of nature will become part of the centre through micro gardens and internal courtyards, which relate to the different spaces within the building.

To the south of the centre, a pool and moving water will provide a calm space for reflection set amidst the greenery. Deep canopies will shelter the centre’s open terraces from rain, allowing people to enjoy fresh air and the garden whatever the weather.

Maggie’s Centres are warm and welcoming places with qualified professionals on hand to offer a programme of support that has been shown to improve physical and emotional well-being. The support available at the new Maggie’s Centre at The Christie will include psychological support, benefits advice, nutrition workshops, relaxation and stress management, art therapy, tai chi and yoga.

There are already 17 Maggie’s Centres in the UK and all are designed by leading architects. Each architect offers a unique interpretation of the same brief, based on the needs of a person living with cancer, to create the calm environments so important to the people who visit and work in the centres.

The post Norman Foster unveils Maggie’s Centre
for home town of Manchester appeared first on Dezeen.

News: the latest Maggie’s cancer care centre designed by Frank Gehry opened in Hong Kong yesterday, becoming the first of the charity’s units outside the UK.

Maggie’s Hong Kong is the second Maggie’s Centre by Frank Gehry, following the opening in 2003 of Maggie’s Dundee in Scotland.

The centre comprises a series of pavilions with rooms overlooking a pond and gardens partly inspired by the classical gardens of Suzhou near Shanghai.

Gehry said: “[The building is] respectful of Chinese architecture and motifs. I hope it’s not copying anything Chinese or architectural, but I hope it’s very respectful of them.

“I was going through the loss of a daughter while I was designing the centre. I think you sort of suck it up and hope to make something that is soothing and respectful and hopeful. There’s always hope, it’s not a dead end.”

Landscape architect Lily Jencks, who is the daughter of founders Maggie Keswick Jencks and Charles Jencks, designed the centre’s garden.

We’ve featured lots of Maggie’s Centres on Dezeen, including Steven Holl’s recently revealed designs for a centre in London and OMA’s Stirling Prize-nominated centre in Glasgow – see all Maggie’s Centres.

Gehry recently revealed a 22-storey tower designed for his hometown of Santa Monica, California – see all architecture by Frank Gehry.

Photographs are by Pako Ko.

Here’s more information from Maggie’s Centre:

Secretary for Food & Health, Dr Ko Wing Man will open Maggie’s Hong Kong on Thursday, March 7.

They will join Charles Jencks, Maggie’s co-founder, Laura Lee chief executive, Keith Kerr, chairman of Maggie’s Hong Kong Board of Directors and Eleanor Ling from the Keswick Foundation.

The official opening heralds a new era of cancer care and support for people with cancer across the region, bringing hope and solace to thousands.

The new purpose built Centre was designed by internationally renowned architect Frank Gehry, who also designed Maggie’s Dundee in Scotland. Maggie’s Hong Kong is the first Maggie’s Centre to be built outside of the United Kingdom.

Since December 2008 Maggie’s Hong Kong has been providing an interim service at its temporary building on the ground at Tuen Mun Hospital, offering free support for anyone living with cancer including friends, family and carers. Centre visitors can take part in relaxation sessions, nutrition classes, yoga and individual and family support sessions.

The Centre’s design is a series of pavilions arranged to encourage movement between the interior and the landscape. Rooms open out to the surrounding gardens or have private terraces overlooking the pond. There is a public living and dining area that serves as the focal point of the building, with views of both the ponds and gardens. The Centre could be thought of as a Chinese garden inspired by, though not beholden to, the Suzhou tradition.

Maggie’s chief executive Laura Lee said: “This is a very special occasion, not only are we able to provide more help and support for people who are living with cancer in the region but Maggie’s Hong Kong is our first international Centre.

“Maggie’s proven programme of support will act as an antidote to the isolation and despair of a cancer diagnosis. Frank Gehry’s design will help to facilitate this support, by making people feel safe, inspired and valued. Under one extraordinary roof, Maggie’s will help people to find their way out of the hopelessness of cancer.”

Architect Frank Gehry said: “Maggie was bright and sunny and open and fun and whimsical and smart as hell. She was a real creative spirit, she had a healthy curiosity and she tried things, and in a sense I emulated her.

“The building has feelings which I hope engender community activity, and that it’s comfortable for the patients to be there. It’s respectful of Chinese architecture and motifs. I hope it’s not copying anything Chinese or architectural, but I hope it’s very respectful of them.

“I was going through the loss of a daughter while I was designing the Centre. I think you sort of suck it up and hope to make something that is soothing and respectful and hopeful. There’s always hope, it’s not a dead end.”

Landscape architect Lily Jencks – daughter of founders Maggie Keswick Jencks and Charles Jencks – has designed the garden for Maggie’s Hong Kong.

Lily said: These intimate gardens represent the macrocosm of the universe within the microcosm of a landscape, bringing an awareness of man’s place in nature. This early integration of landscape form and building has created a complex relationship between the man-made forms and naturalistic garden setting.”

The new Centre will mean staff can provide more support and groups can run at the same time. Programme activities include support groups, nutrition classes, tai chi, yoga, managing symptoms and side effects, relaxation, art and music therapy.

Maggie’s Hong Kong is supported by the Keswick Foundation Ltd and Maggie’s Centres.

Maggie’s Hong Kong is Maggie’s first complete international centre. Plans are underway to create a Maggie’s in Barcelona, along with a further three international centres by 2017. Since the charity’s inception 16 years ago, Maggie’s has influenced and inspired a number of international cancer support organisations such as the Danish Cancer Society and the Swiss Cancer League, and it continues to support and collaborate with a significant number of cancer care groups from around the world including Japan, Australia, Qatar and Europe.

The post Frank Gehry-designed Maggie’s Centre
opens in Hong Kong appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen Wire: cancer care charity Maggie’s are hosting a silent online auction to sell a unique model of the OMA-designed Maggie’s Centre in Glasgow signed by Rem Koolhaas.

Bids can be made by following this link from now until Saturday 17 March.

Maggie’s Centres for cancer care have opened up across the UK in recent years – see some of them here.

Here’s some more information about the auction from Maggie’s:

We have a fantastic opportunity for you to win a one of a kind architectural model of the OMA-designed Maggie’s Centre at Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow. The model has been created by OMA and is signed by Pritzker Prize winning architect Rem Koolhaas.

The 3D model, made from printed polymer and sitting on an oak wood base, is displayed in a 31 x 31 x 14 cm acrylic perspex showcase and comes with a customised transport crate. Scale: 1:200.

Maggie’s Glasgow Gartnavel is OMA’s first completed work in the UK since the Serpentine Pavilion in 2006 and is located in the grounds of the Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow. The centre is a single-level building in the form of interlocking rooms surrounding an internal, landscaped courtyard. The centre opened in October 2011 and has earned OMA a nomination for a 2012 Design Award, “the Oscars of the design world,” in the Architecture category.

All proceeds from the sale of this unique model will go to Maggie’s Centres, an organisation that creates places providing the emotional, practical and social support that people with cancer need.

The online auction runs from 10am, Friday 17 February to midnight, Saturday 17 March 2012.

The latest Maggie’s cancer care centre to complete is a concrete spiral in southwest Wales.

Maggie’s South West Wales is located in the grounds of Singleton Hospital in Swansea and will open on 9 December.

Following the death of Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, British architects Garbers & James delivered the building in accordance with his original design.

A kitchen can be found inside the spiral’s central drum, where anyone affected by cancer is invited for a cup of tea and a chat.

Private rooms and terraces occupy the two wings and are naturally lit through high-level windows that follow the shape of the curved metal roof.

Maggie’s was founded fifteen years ago and this is the latest of three centres opening in the UK this year, following one in Glasgow by OMA and another in Nottingham by CZWG and Paul Smith.

Photography is by Adam Hollier.

Here’s some more text from Maggie’s:

Maggie’s South West Wales to open on Friday, December 9

The official opening heralds a new era of cancer care and support for people affected by cancer across the South Wales region, bringing hope and solace to thousands.

Located at Singleton Hospital in Swansea, Maggie’s South West Wales will complement the treatment provided at the hospital, offering an evidence-based programme of support to help people through the emotional and practical complexities of a cancer diagnosis.

Maggie’s South West Wales is the tenth Maggie’s Centre and is one of five centres planned for England and Wales as part of the ambitious £15m Joy of Living fundraising campaign, spearheaded by Maggie’s patron Sarah Brown.

The stunning new centre was designed by Japanese architect Dr Kisho Kurokawa, of Kisho Kurokawa Architect & Associates. Sadly, Dr Kisho Kurokawa died in October 2007 but completed his outline scheme designs for Maggie’s South West Wales shortly before his death. Thore Garbers and Wendy James of Garbers & James met with him whilst still alive and undertook to deliver his project as executive architects. The building is surrounded by a landscape design created by Kim Wilkie that has been implemented by Terra Firma Consultancy Ltd.

Dr Kisho Kurokawa who was a great friend of Maggie Keswick Jencks (founder of Maggie’s), based his design on the concept of a cosmic whirlpool, representing a strong symbol of life, with everlasting forces swirling around a still centre. The spiral segments of the building conceptually engage alternate segments of earth and water, separated by shafts of warm light. Hence the concept provided a figure for the configuration of both the interior and the exterior of the building. The central elliptical drum provides a calm, warm social heart to the building, with the wings and associated external terraces providing more personal and focussed space from which to contemplate the landscape. The whole composition is in an elevated position, next to woodland, on the Singleton Hospital site.

The late Dr Kisho Kurokawa said: “The new Maggie’s Centre will come out of the earth and swing around with two arms like a rotating galaxy. One side will welcome the visitor and lead to the other side, which embraces nature, the trees, rocks and water. A place set apart, as Maggie said of a garden. The connection to the cosmos and contacts between East and West – two motives that Maggie and I shared – are in the design. I hope she would have liked it.”

Situated next to the South West Wales Cancer Centre at Singleton Hospital, Maggie’s will serve people living within the South West Wales Cancer Network. The network covers approximately 900,000 people within the regions of Aberystwyth, Haverfordwest, Swansea, Powys, Carmarthen, Llanelli, Neath, Port Talbot and Bridgend. In this area, there are more than 3,000 new cases of cancer a year. Uniquely, Maggie’s South West Wales will be the first centre to collaborate with the local Medical Genetics service to offer information and practical support to people who are at risk of cancer, based on family history. Maggie’s has had an interim facility on site since 2006.

The centre has been constructed by Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd, as main contractor, supported by a number of specialist sub-contractors. The wider design team has included Arup, as structural engineers and KJTait as building services engineers. Ramboll has provided civil engineering support, and the cost consultant was Turner & Townsend.

Here are some more shots of the recently opened Maggie’s Centre for cancer care in Nottingham, England, this time by photographer Michael Whelan. Watch a movie about the project on Dezeen Screen »

British architect Piers Gough of CZWG designed the centre, while fashion designer Paul Smith was responsible for the interior.

The building’s walls comprise four interlocking ovals, elevated above the ground and clad in green glazed tiles.

Maggie’s Nottingham opened to the public on Wednesday and anyone affected by cancer is invited to pop in for a cup of tea and a chat.

Read more about the centre in our earlier story.

This is the second of three centres opening in the UK this year, following one recently completed in Glasgow by OMA.

See more stories about Maggie’s Centres here.

See also: more stories about Paul Smith, including a podcast interview filmed last year.