PROJECT REPORT: HEALTHCARE BUILDINGS
Project leader Angel Tenorio tells ADF, “We are genuinely interested in improving people’s experience and how the physical environment has a direct effect on people’s lives.” Heatherwick has worked on a number of healthcare projects such as a shortlisted bid for a new clinic at Great Ormond Street, but this is the first to reach fruition for this famously inventive practice, perhaps demonstrating the open-minded attitude of the client. Maggie’s Centres have seen a bevy of top-name architects design their buildings over the years, from Frank Gehry to Zaha Hadid. Many of them no doubt enjoyed the chance to create small, beautiful healing environments which were also free from many of the constraints of full-blown ‘medicalised’ facilities. In this case, however, Tenorio says that the practice jumped at the chance to “design something that brings joy and a sense of hope to people who are dealing with cancer, as well as their friends and family.” As he says, each Maggie’s Centre, by freeing up the ability of designers to create comforting spaces, “offers the opportunity to bring something truly inspiring to people’s lives.” The brief to the architects was “very
open,” says the architect, “to create a home for people that they wouldn’t have dared build themselves.” This trusting approach has also in the past contributed to the range of often idiosyncratic design responses from leading architects to the charity’s various sites. Tenorio does say however that “rather than come in with a magic bullet,” Heatherwick Studio engaged in a “lengthy back and forth” design process with the client, to establish the psychological implications of each of their decisions on users in this sensitive setting.
Site & form
Although the construction would be taking the last patch of green space, it was an unprepossessing grass-covered spot, containing landfill spoil from the construction of the adjacent multi-storey car park. The 6-metre level difference between the top and bottom of the site would “typically make the building be semi-sunk into the hillside,” says the project leader. The design instead takes advantage of the
slope, avoiding further unnecessary excavation, and providing a series of extensively landscaped roof terraces, the largest central one being accessible and offering expansive views of the Yorkshire Dales. With the tall buildings nearby producing something of a wind-tunnel
ADF JANUARY 2021
effect, the building itself, as well as the tree-heavy landscaping, is designed to shelter and envelop the 110 visitors expected per day from the moment they arrive on site. The spruce-framed construction sits amongst retaining walls designed in close collaboration with the landscaping architect to further minimise excavation. The site sits on a ‘blue route’ for ambulances heading to A&E, which could not be closed for long periods, so construction had to be as efficient as possible. This is one of the reasons why manufacturing the glulam rib sections in Switzerland, and assembling them in pairs using timber plates onsite, proved ideal.
TIMBER RIBS
The structural glulam rib sections were made in Switzerland and assembled in pairs onsite, being attached using timber plates
39
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
