Maggie’s Royal Free, London

Maggie’s cancer support centers—started by Maggie Keswick Jencks, who died after a battle with cancer in 1995, and her husband, Charles Jencks—are tailored to cancer patients and their families, providing space for counseling, lectures, yoga classes, and just to have a cup of tea.

Since its founding, the network has grown to more than 24 locations in the U.K. as well as centers in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Barcelona, and The Netherlands.

Opened in January, one of the newest centers, Maggie’s Royal Free on the campus of Royal Free Hospital in London, is designed by New York-based Studio Libeskind.

Housed on a small corner of the campus, the 4,800-square-foot facility features an organic shape that expands and unfolds as it rises three stories, resulting in a building that’s wider at the top than at the bottom, says Carla Swickerath, lead designer and partner at Studio Libeskind.

The approach provides a contrast to the more institutional building forms on the campus while maximizing the small site footprint, she says.

Additionally, Swickerath notes, the Jencks believed in the ability of buildings to be uplifting to people, making that a criteria for all Maggie’s centers, which further drove the shape of the building on the Royal Free Hospital campus.

“So many [Maggie’s centers] have been designed by world-renowned architects and all have a unique design and landscape element that really works to enhance the experience of those fighting cancer,” she says.

Architectural features to support respite

For the façade, the project team utilized a steel structure that’s clad in prefabricated timber panels. Timber is also featured extensively in the interior of the building, in oak floors, handrails, and cabinets, for example, to give the center a warm, intimate, and welcoming feel, Swickerath says.

Entrances on the first floor open to a living room and large kitchen and dining area. An open spiral staircase leads to a library, counseling rooms, alcoves for quiet respite, multipurpose space for yoga and other activities, and staff offices. A top-floor pavilion and sitting area opens onto a tree-lined roof terrace, where outdoor yoga sessions are often held.

Swickerath says the kitchen is the “heart of the building,” designed to feel welcoming and inviting, with the food preparation and dining area combined in a space filled with light and views to the outdoors.

A custom kitchen table, designed by the firm, is shaped to work around the curve of the stairs and the rounded room, to give visitors the sense of being “embraced,” Swickerath says.

Windows follow a fenestration pattern, not strictly aligned with the floor plates, presenting “unexpected views of the hospital, neighborhood, and sky,” she says.

“When you look out from the kitchen windows, you’re looking directly out into the landscape. It’s a unique feeling of being protected and kind of cradled in that space,” she says. “We’ve talked a lot with Maggie’s as an organization about the moment someone is told they have cancer and perhaps they don’t know what to do or where to go. This is a place that can welcome you and bring you in and, hopefully, provide some hope and inspiration.”

Robert McCune is senior editor of Healthcare Design and can be reached at [email protected].