Designed by award-winning architecture practice AL_A, the latest Maggie’s cancer support centre is located at Southampton General Hospital, U.K. Situated on a corner hospital site previously used for car parking, the new centre is conceived as a woodland oasis offering support for the hospital’s specialist oncology unit. The centre serves a population of approximately 3.2 million people across the region.
Almost three-quarters of the site is dedicated to four distinct gardens that reflect the ecology of the nearby New Forest. Amanda Levete, Principal of AL_A says: ‘We have imagined that a piece of garden has been transported from the New Forest into the midst of the hospital’s car park, bringing serenity and a bit of magic to the place.’
The gardens were designed by award-winning landscape designer, Sarah Price of who adds, ‘ There’s no doubt that looking at ‘nature’ has a positive impact on how we feel. The landscape is inspired by the New Forest and draws its healing power from the rich diversity of the Forest’s flora: wood anemones, orchids, wild garlic, lesser celandines, bluebells and primroses, mosses and ferns, growing in the woodland pathways.’
From this woodland oasis, the building emerges with four walls radiating outward from a large central space at the heart of the building where, as in all Maggie’s centres, the kitchen table is located. A skylight brings daylight and sky views deep into the building while private areas, including consulting rooms and quiet spaces, open onto the garden through full-height glazed sliding doors which disappear into the walls, erasing boundaries between landscape and building.
The four blade-like walls that extend into the landscape are clad with ceramics. The earthiness of the clay colour helps root the centre to the ground. The four corners are clad with a mottled stainless steel, resulting in a dreamy reflection of the surrounding landscape and once again, placing the garden at the centre of the scheme.
