Hasta La Ideas

Here are the first images of the Maggie’s Centre for cancer care that New York architect Steven Holl is designing for St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.

Maggie’s Barts will replace a former office block and the initial drawings show it as a cylindrical building with a bamboo interior and coloured glass windows.

Maggie’s was founded fifteen years ago to provide support to anyone affected by cancer and they now have centres all around the UK – see all the ones we’ve featured here, including Maggie’s Gartnavel by OMA and Maggie’s South West Wales by Kisho Kurokawa and Garbers & James, which both picked up an RIBA award last week.

See more stories about Steven Holl »

Here’s the full press release:

Steven Holl Architects reveal first designs for Maggie’s Barts

Maggie’s is delighted to announce that Steven Holl Architects has agreed to design the Maggie’s Centre at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.

Steven Holl Architects is internationally-honoured with the most prestigious awards in architecture as well as publications and exhibitions for excellence in design.

The practice’s most famous works include the Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum in Helsinki and the 2007 Bloch Building addition to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.

Steven Holl is also the winner of the 2012 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal.

Maggie’s Barts will replace an existing 1960s block that was once used as offices which is located at the periphery of the square.

Steven Holl said: “It is a great honor to design a Maggie’s Centre and a very special challenge to be given such an important central site in London. The hospital has been at the forefront of medical understanding for centuries. We are inspired by the deep history of the area, and particularly the nearby St. Bartholomew the Great church which has been in continuous use with marvelous music since 1143. Our proposal is like a vessel within a vessel within a vessel. In the spirit of music, architecture can be a vessel of transcendence.”

Laura Lee, chief executive of Maggie’s said: “We are very excited that Steven Holl is working with us to design a Maggie’s Centre. It is also a huge privilege to be able to build a Centre at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and we look forward to opening our doors and helping Londoners who are affected by cancer.”

Director of Barts Cancer Centre, Professor Nick Lemoine, said: “We treat an average of 3,100 new cancer patients every year so thousands will benefit from services offered at the new Maggie’s Centre.

“In addition to the physical effects of cancer treatment, patients and carers often require extra emotional support so I look forward to working with Maggie’s on this special partnership.”

St Bartholomew’s Hospital which serves a population of 1.5m in North East London is the oldest hospital in the country and has always been at the forefront of medical knowledge and understanding. It was the first hospital to train female doctors and the first to trial high voltage radiotherapy for people with cancer.

Today, it is home to one of the most advanced cancer centres in Europe with world-leading specialists and state-of-the-art technology.