special report: healthcare build & design A place for living
Maggie’s Nottingham serves the Mid Trent Cancer Network and is situated next to the Breast Institute at Nottingham City Hospital. The Mid Trent Cancer Network covers the popula- tions of Nottingham, North Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire – approximately 1.3 million people. Within this area, there are over 4,000 new cases of cancer a year.
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M
aggie’s is a well-established charity. Named after the late Maggie Keswick Jencks, the centres are based on her
idea of an alternative environment to a hospital where cancer patients and their families can take time to discuss and learn more about the illness and the situation that the patient and surrounding family and friends may face. This year, Maggie’s is celebrating ‘15 at 15’ – its 15th
year since the first
centre was built in which time 15 centres have been built across the UK.
The design The design team were given a clear and succinct design brief as the charity is born of the belief in Maggie’s original idea and has had 15 years of subsequent experience of constructing such buildings. Nottingham City Hospital agreed to host a Maggie’s Centre on its campus. A number of sites for the building were considered within the campus including a disused Chapel but this was later rejected as it was thought to be restric- tive to change the focus of the use within such an existing building. The chosen site, a sloped grass verge nearby
to the Breast Institute, had the following attrac- tions for the new Centre: • Small and secluded from the surrounding noise of the hospital campus by mature trees
• The sloping site was unlikely to be required by the hospital for clinical buildings in the future
• Close to the oncology and breast units of the hospital
• Pleasant views and aspects not for immediate future development
• Close to an entrance to the hospital grounds for ease of navigation.
“The idea was to make a refuge, something
slightly hidden away, nestling into the trees and away from the hospital. The building is almost per- verse in its symmetry. The requirement of the brief seemed to me exactly symmetrical and it seemed intriguing to do a building that wasn’t free-form; the landscape around it is quite loose and free so
the building could become symmetrical. The conceit is that the elevations are all ovals and they interlock like a Canadian log house. I hope that people will find it charming, something like a sur- prising home,” says Piers Gough, partner at CZWG Architects. The oval elevations of the building appear as
friendly oval faces – something almost like a fairy- tale building that the visitor comes across in the charming little patch of woods amid the less charming site of the hospital. The near symmetrical design and generous height allows Maggie’s Nottingham to have a sense of space and balance. The oval elevated building of green glazed ceramic
tiles floats over a smaller basement, with plants growing up the sides. Balconies extend from the kitchen and sitting rooms and provide places from which to look out onto the garden, which is designed to use scent and texture to create a secluded and uplifting area for people to enjoy. The interior contained by those four flat,
friendly oval faces is extremely straightforward and domestic. The focus of the internal spaces is on conventional comfort and real rooms with the spaces having a homely feel to them. The build- ing, which is spread over two floors and a base- ment, is square on plan and is set diagonally on the sloping site. Unlike many of the other
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