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Maggie's Centres: Architecture Fights Cancer with Joy
5 Mar
Summary
- Maggie's Centres offer cancer patients a 'space of their own'.
- Acclaimed architects like Hadid and Foster designed support centers.
- An exhibition at V&A Dundee celebrates these unique designs.
Maggie's Centres, conceived by Maggie Keswick Jenks in the early 1990s, offer cancer patients a vital 'space of their own' amidst hospital environments, aiming to preserve the 'joy of living' during illness. The first centre opened in Edinburgh in 1996, a year after Jenks's death.
Today, over 30 Maggie's Centres operate across the UK and abroad, each a testament to conscious design. This legacy is being celebrated at the V&A Dundee in a free exhibition. The centres' design brief emphasizes welcome, color, joy, and proximity to nature, interpreted by world-leading architects including Zaha Hadid, Richard Rogers, and Norman Foster.
The exhibition contrasts various architectural interpretations, from the inviting glass facade at Barts to Frank Gehry's homely design for Maggie's Dundee. Visitors can experience soundscapes of user interviews and view scale models, appreciating the 'statement of care' these buildings represent, as noted by CEO Dame Laura Lee.
