Maggie's Cancer Care Centre

Designed by Norwegian architectural practice Snohetta in partnership with Halliday Fraser Munro, the scheme is conceived as a pavilion in a parkland setting. The Maggie’s Centre is not a treatment centre but a place where individuals can meet, connect and
receive help and guidance.

Located on the Southern boundary of Forester Hill Hospital Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre is a free-standing pavilion at the edge of the Westburn field. This open green field location is both connected to the hospital whilst at the same time being set apart and independent. Nestling in the row of trees marking the course of the Westburn, the Maggie's Centre enjoys views across the field and ample sunlight from the south and West.

The soft exterior form envelops the whole of the centre and defines the courtyard garden. The soft forms of the exterior cladding have a hard concrete materiality. The interior of the building is harder and more angular in form but constructed from soft timber materials. The exterior shell creates the framework for the centre and sculpts the main spaces, whilst the timber interior buildings create the
more intimate rooms and spaces that the centre requires. The centre is primarily on one ground floor level with a smaller mezzanine area devoted to the office functions. The smooth exterior shell is a reinforced concrete element that forms a monolithic piece, the internal building is clad in timber boards.

The most important landscape aspect to the grass covered field within which the Centre sits. The texture and cutting pattern of the grass is developed to form a large-scale pattern within which the pavilion building forms an integral part. The existing tree line along the Westburn is retained and strengthened by new planting of Maple trees to the western end.