How is design improving the mental and physical health of patients?
While architects, planners and researchers are actively advocating for the integration of health, spatial planning and design on a broader level – from cities to streets, houses to neighbourhoods – the vast majority of hospitals and health centres in use remain dated, unwelcoming and ill-suited for today’s needs. With the current healthcare crisis shaped by overcrowded hospitals, unhappy staff and less than adequate care for patients, how, where and when we treat illness remains one of the most pressing public health concerns. Innovative hospital designs can change patients’ experiences and expectations of what a hospital should be, affecting, in turn, patient outcomes and recovery. A selection of projects shown in this section display the current research in hospital design, as well as the design of spaces that promote innovative care patterns.
The role of architecture in healthcare from past to present
It may seem that the relationship between health, wellbeing and architecture is a modern concern, but this is very far from the case. That buildings could be designed to produce a curative environment has long been understood, if at times imperfectly.
Florence Nightingale coined the phrase that a hospital should ‘do the sick no harm’, for just as a building can promote health, it can also produce an adverse effect. Poor drainage and sanitation, intermingling patients suffering from infectious diseases with other patients had devastating effects before the method by which diseases were spread and the importance of hygiene, pure water and effective drainage were recognized.
The modern hospital may seem far removed from its Victorian counterpart, but many of the design principles have remained constant, not least because they still serve the same purpose. A historic hospital building does not have to be unfit for purpose. Barts is a particularly good example of the sensitive adaptation of Georgian hospital buildings to modern requirements. The biggest challenges in retaining older buildings comes from the wealth of modern technology and specialist equipment that needs to be incorporated, together with higher maintenance and running costs compared with present energy efficient construction.
But health and wellbeing is not entirely dependent upon a hygienic environment. Recovery can be quicker in pleasant surroundings. Descriptions of new hospitals since the eighteenth century describe wards as ‘cheerful’, ‘bright’ and ‘airy’. Nineteenth-century photographs of wards show the familiar vases of flowers, but also pictures on the walls or even an occasional piano. Children’s wards were cluttered with toys and usually a rocking horse.
In terms of mental health, we might assume that there was a huge difference between a Victorian mental hospital and the mental health buildings of today. But here too, modern criteria has much in common with that of a century ago. Gardens provided beneficial exercise, recreation halls were built for plays, dances and later cinema shows. Wards were designed with south-facing dayrooms looking out over countryside. As with general hospitals, successful elements of past design have been re-imagined for twenty-first century health care.
Architecture and design has always had a key role, what exactly that role might be has changed over time. For the early charitable hospitals of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries an impressive and dignified classical façade helped to attract public support. In the early twentieth century the clean lines of Modernism were synonymous with health and hygiene – curved surfaces that did not harbor dirt and germs, balconies and French windows that allowed patients to reap the benefits of fresh air and sunshine, and white walls bespeaking cleanliness. Lubetkin and Tecton’s Finsbury Health Centre of the 1930s is an architectural tour de force designed as a beacon of health in a blighted area of inner London. More recently the Maggie Centres are the most joyful architectural antidote to functional design, which can often seem bleak and impersonal.
Harriet Richardson, Architectural Historian
Florence Nightingale coined the phrase that a hospital should ‘do the sick no harm’, for just as a building can promote health, it can also produce an adverse effect. Poor drainage and sanitation, intermingling patients suffering from infectious diseases with other patients had devastating effects before the method by which diseases were spread and the importance of hygiene, pure water and effective drainage were recognized.
The modern hospital may seem far removed from its Victorian counterpart, but many of the design principles have remained constant, not least because they still serve the same purpose. A historic hospital building does not have to be unfit for purpose. Barts is a particularly good example of the sensitive adaptation of Georgian hospital buildings to modern requirements. The biggest challenges in retaining older buildings comes from the wealth of modern technology and specialist equipment that needs to be incorporated, together with higher maintenance and running costs compared with present energy efficient construction.
But health and wellbeing is not entirely dependent upon a hygienic environment. Recovery can be quicker in pleasant surroundings. Descriptions of new hospitals since the eighteenth century describe wards as ‘cheerful’, ‘bright’ and ‘airy’. Nineteenth-century photographs of wards show the familiar vases of flowers, but also pictures on the walls or even an occasional piano. Children’s wards were cluttered with toys and usually a rocking horse.
In terms of mental health, we might assume that there was a huge difference between a Victorian mental hospital and the mental health buildings of today. But here too, modern criteria has much in common with that of a century ago. Gardens provided beneficial exercise, recreation halls were built for plays, dances and later cinema shows. Wards were designed with south-facing dayrooms looking out over countryside. As with general hospitals, successful elements of past design have been re-imagined for twenty-first century health care.
Architecture and design has always had a key role, what exactly that role might be has changed over time. For the early charitable hospitals of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries an impressive and dignified classical façade helped to attract public support. In the early twentieth century the clean lines of Modernism were synonymous with health and hygiene – curved surfaces that did not harbor dirt and germs, balconies and French windows that allowed patients to reap the benefits of fresh air and sunshine, and white walls bespeaking cleanliness. Lubetkin and Tecton’s Finsbury Health Centre of the 1930s is an architectural tour de force designed as a beacon of health in a blighted area of inner London. More recently the Maggie Centres are the most joyful architectural antidote to functional design, which can often seem bleak and impersonal.
Harriet Richardson, Architectural Historian
Penoyre&Prasad
New QEII Hospital
East and North Hertfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group
2015
Penoyre&Prasad’s New QEII Hospital is an exemplar of low energy, sustainable healthcare, particularly designed around patients’ wellbeing. Part of a new generation of NHS Local Hospitals, it integrates primary, acute and social care services.
To meet the demands of an ever-changing healthcare service, the design approach incorporates clinical layouts and generic spaces to enable flexibility of use on a day-to-day basis and also adaptability to future service changes. The Local Hospital concept provides many of the clinical services and facilities of a larger district hospital, but locates them closer to the community they serve, reducing the load on the acute hospitals and improving the accessibility to healthcare services.
The vision for the New QEII Hospital is to create a safe and reassuring healthcare environment that is designed to feel welcoming, inclusive and supportive to all. The vision is that the design of the new facility will “wrap around” the service model and patient flows and will meet service needs. Three ‘L’ shaped wings define a central courtyard around which the main public circulation is arranged.
The scale of the hospital respects the surrounding context whilst also creating a distinctive presence, as this was a key opportunity to give the New QEII a ‘civic’ presence within the predominantly residential location. The building has proved to be welcoming and a major improvement in the experience of those visiting and working in the hospital. The feeling of openness, accessibility, daylight and views, have been the themes of positive comments received from patients and staff, as a testament to the involvement and engagement of the community in the design and delivery of this project.
Images from left to right:
1. New QEII Hospital, hospital courtyard, photo Tim Crocker
2. New QEII Hospital, urgent care entrance, photo Tim Crocker
3. New QEII Hospital, façade detail, photo Tim Crocker
4. New QEII Hospital, main entrance, photo Tim Crocker
5. New QEII Hospital, first floor circulation, photo Tim Crocker
To meet the demands of an ever-changing healthcare service, the design approach incorporates clinical layouts and generic spaces to enable flexibility of use on a day-to-day basis and also adaptability to future service changes. The Local Hospital concept provides many of the clinical services and facilities of a larger district hospital, but locates them closer to the community they serve, reducing the load on the acute hospitals and improving the accessibility to healthcare services.
The vision for the New QEII Hospital is to create a safe and reassuring healthcare environment that is designed to feel welcoming, inclusive and supportive to all. The vision is that the design of the new facility will “wrap around” the service model and patient flows and will meet service needs. Three ‘L’ shaped wings define a central courtyard around which the main public circulation is arranged.
The scale of the hospital respects the surrounding context whilst also creating a distinctive presence, as this was a key opportunity to give the New QEII a ‘civic’ presence within the predominantly residential location. The building has proved to be welcoming and a major improvement in the experience of those visiting and working in the hospital. The feeling of openness, accessibility, daylight and views, have been the themes of positive comments received from patients and staff, as a testament to the involvement and engagement of the community in the design and delivery of this project.
Images from left to right:
1. New QEII Hospital, hospital courtyard, photo Tim Crocker
2. New QEII Hospital, urgent care entrance, photo Tim Crocker
3. New QEII Hospital, façade detail, photo Tim Crocker
4. New QEII Hospital, main entrance, photo Tim Crocker
5. New QEII Hospital, first floor circulation, photo Tim Crocker
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Medical Architecture
Clock View Hospital
LSHP for Mersey Care NHS Trust
2014
Designed by Medical Architecture, Clock View Hospital is the first of five planned facilities to provide locality based mental health services in Merseyside by Mersey Care NHS Trust. This strategy provides much needed improved mental healthcare provision across a deprived region. The development signals investment and is beneficial to the general regeneration of the area. The site takes advantage of local transport links and an established healthcare location, close to residents, facilitating discharge and integrated care.
These modern facilities provide 80 inpatient beds for Adult and Older People Acute Mental Health and Dementia Services, each with their own private bedroom with en-suite. It also provides the city’s new psychiatric intensive care unit for those most in need of urgent inpatient care.
The pavilion-type building layout supports the need for future flexibility and creates a warm and friendly domestic building in a landscaped setting. This offers numerous advantages including the creation of semi-private and private/secure open space, at a domestic scale which aids integration with neighbouring residential developments, providing plenty of views and access to landscaped ecological gardens and individual characters for each ward block.
The project was developed over twelve years of engaging with the client. Over two hundred stakeholder meetings were held with patients, carers, clinicians and managers. Several engagement sessions were run with local community groups to de-stigmatise mental illness. As a result of this process, Clock View has, since its opening, been heralded as a beacon of good design and successful planning in traditionally under-funded healthcare sector.
Images from left to right:
1. Clock View Hospital, communal space, photo Jennie Webb
2. Clock View Hospital, circulation and interior detail, photo Jennie Webb
3. Clock View Hospital, main entrance, photo Jennie Webb
4. Clock View Hospital, courtyard, photo Jennie Webb
These modern facilities provide 80 inpatient beds for Adult and Older People Acute Mental Health and Dementia Services, each with their own private bedroom with en-suite. It also provides the city’s new psychiatric intensive care unit for those most in need of urgent inpatient care.
The pavilion-type building layout supports the need for future flexibility and creates a warm and friendly domestic building in a landscaped setting. This offers numerous advantages including the creation of semi-private and private/secure open space, at a domestic scale which aids integration with neighbouring residential developments, providing plenty of views and access to landscaped ecological gardens and individual characters for each ward block.
The project was developed over twelve years of engaging with the client. Over two hundred stakeholder meetings were held with patients, carers, clinicians and managers. Several engagement sessions were run with local community groups to de-stigmatise mental illness. As a result of this process, Clock View has, since its opening, been heralded as a beacon of good design and successful planning in traditionally under-funded healthcare sector.
Images from left to right:
1. Clock View Hospital, communal space, photo Jennie Webb
2. Clock View Hospital, circulation and interior detail, photo Jennie Webb
3. Clock View Hospital, main entrance, photo Jennie Webb
4. Clock View Hospital, courtyard, photo Jennie Webb
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Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
Dyson Centre, Royal United Hospital Bath
Royal United Hospital Bath NHS trust
2011
The new Dyson Centre, or Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the RUH in Bath was Feilden Clegg Bradley’s first venture into healthcare design, allowing them to approach the project with no preconceived ideas. The project was developed following the ethos of ‘attention to emotions alongside hard edged medicine’, placing the users at the centre of design.
The space was organised in a horseshoe arrangement around a central staff base so that parents could clearly see their babies progress from critical care through to going home. To ensure the appropriate light and sound levels for different users, cot spaces were placed far from direct sunlight and care rooms have been equipped with highly controlled lighting, while circulation spaces enjoy direct or reflected sunlight. The architects proposed a palette of natural materials with extended use of exposed cross laminated timber, even in critical care rooms. Careful planning of the spaces and services allowed the creation of uncluttered care rooms, while the exposed timber contributed to the calm and warm feeling of these highly technical spaces. A play area for older siblings was located centrally within the building, while parents’ suites provide discreet bed-sits with rooms leading on to an external courtyard.
The new unit has had a very positive impact on health and wellbeing of users. Parents have reported lower stress and anxiety levels, allowing for more positive contact time with their babies, while the nurses spend nearly twice as much time in the clinical room looking after babies. Critically, the new unit allows babies to get 20% more sleep, giving them a greater chance of survival.
Images from left to right:
1. Dyson Centre, Royal United Hospital Bath, view of the centre from outside, photo Fotohaus
2. Dyson Centre, Royal United Hospital Bath, window detail from outside, photo Fotohaus
3. Dyson Centre, Royal United Hospital Bath, interior view, photo Fotohaus
4. Dyson Centre, Royal United Hospital Bath, critical care room, photo Fotohaus
5. Dyson Centre, Royal United Hospital Bath, staff base and circulation, photo Fotohaus
The space was organised in a horseshoe arrangement around a central staff base so that parents could clearly see their babies progress from critical care through to going home. To ensure the appropriate light and sound levels for different users, cot spaces were placed far from direct sunlight and care rooms have been equipped with highly controlled lighting, while circulation spaces enjoy direct or reflected sunlight. The architects proposed a palette of natural materials with extended use of exposed cross laminated timber, even in critical care rooms. Careful planning of the spaces and services allowed the creation of uncluttered care rooms, while the exposed timber contributed to the calm and warm feeling of these highly technical spaces. A play area for older siblings was located centrally within the building, while parents’ suites provide discreet bed-sits with rooms leading on to an external courtyard.
The new unit has had a very positive impact on health and wellbeing of users. Parents have reported lower stress and anxiety levels, allowing for more positive contact time with their babies, while the nurses spend nearly twice as much time in the clinical room looking after babies. Critically, the new unit allows babies to get 20% more sleep, giving them a greater chance of survival.
Images from left to right:
1. Dyson Centre, Royal United Hospital Bath, view of the centre from outside, photo Fotohaus
2. Dyson Centre, Royal United Hospital Bath, window detail from outside, photo Fotohaus
3. Dyson Centre, Royal United Hospital Bath, interior view, photo Fotohaus
4. Dyson Centre, Royal United Hospital Bath, critical care room, photo Fotohaus
5. Dyson Centre, Royal United Hospital Bath, staff base and circulation, photo Fotohaus
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Studio Tilt
Whittington Hospital Ambulatory Care Unit
NHS Whittington Hospital Trust
2014
Studio TILT has codesigned the Whittington Hospital’s new ambulatory care unit, following a successful collaboration between the Trust’s staff, patients and management team to codesign the Outpatient Pharmacy in 2012. The new ambulatory care unit incorporates a range of functions: treatment rooms, scanners, ultrasound, teleconferencing and virtual rooms, conference and seminar spaces.
TILT’s unique approach of codesigning spaces creates a dynamic zonal space that allows a huge range of departments to work alongside each other, all within a smaller footprint. To begin the process, a programme of codesign workshops was established, helping participants to explore design ideas for the space, including layout, furniture and spatial flow. The workshops resulted in basic prototypes that were then produced professionally to create life-sized prototyped environments, indicative of what the new ambulatory care unit would look like.
These environments were subjected to interactive testing by the hospital staff. The designs were consistently evolved as the workshop programme developed, creating a clear sense of progression for the participants. The codesign process involved over 70 people, from clinicians, admin staff, Estates Department, IT staff, through to patients themselves.
As the key distinctions between hospitals and community services are being blurred, the Whittington wanted to look at ways to reposition healthcare as part of the continuum of care. TILT’s methodology has demonstrated the value of codesign in delivering public services and spaces, while the approach fitted well with the hospital’s own radical approach to rethinking its estate along with the diversification of services and service provision. Delivering these spaces with the experience and insight of those that will use them is a crucial need for the future.
Images from left to right:
1. Whittington Hospital Ambulatory Care Unit, staff base and waiting room, photo Jill Base
2. Whittington Hospital Ambulatory Care Unit, staff base and examination room, photo Jill Base
3. Whittington Hospital Ambulatory Care Unit, examination room, photo Jill Base
4. Whittington Hospital Ambulatory Care Unit, treatment area, photo Jill Base
TILT’s unique approach of codesigning spaces creates a dynamic zonal space that allows a huge range of departments to work alongside each other, all within a smaller footprint. To begin the process, a programme of codesign workshops was established, helping participants to explore design ideas for the space, including layout, furniture and spatial flow. The workshops resulted in basic prototypes that were then produced professionally to create life-sized prototyped environments, indicative of what the new ambulatory care unit would look like.
These environments were subjected to interactive testing by the hospital staff. The designs were consistently evolved as the workshop programme developed, creating a clear sense of progression for the participants. The codesign process involved over 70 people, from clinicians, admin staff, Estates Department, IT staff, through to patients themselves.
As the key distinctions between hospitals and community services are being blurred, the Whittington wanted to look at ways to reposition healthcare as part of the continuum of care. TILT’s methodology has demonstrated the value of codesign in delivering public services and spaces, while the approach fitted well with the hospital’s own radical approach to rethinking its estate along with the diversification of services and service provision. Delivering these spaces with the experience and insight of those that will use them is a crucial need for the future.
Images from left to right:
1. Whittington Hospital Ambulatory Care Unit, staff base and waiting room, photo Jill Base
2. Whittington Hospital Ambulatory Care Unit, staff base and examination room, photo Jill Base
3. Whittington Hospital Ambulatory Care Unit, examination room, photo Jill Base
4. Whittington Hospital Ambulatory Care Unit, treatment area, photo Jill Base
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Duggan Morris Architects
ORTUS, the Home of Maudsley Learning
Maudsley Charity
2014
Designed by Duggan Morris architects, ORTUS, home of Maudsley Learning, is a pavilion housing learning and event facilities commissioned by Maudsley Charity. The scope of the charity is to raise knowledge and awareness of mental health and wellbeing through the building, the development of a virtual learning environment and the creation of learning events focusing on mental health and wellbeing across a broad audience.
The building has been conceived as a free-standing pavilion, of simple rectilinear form, with elevations composed to compliment the Georgian principles of proportion, scale, hierarchy and materiality. A vertical grid articulates the contrasting materials of brick and glass, whilst floor slabs are expressed in the same material. Terraces at ground, inset balconies above, and a large roof terrace further articulate the simplicity of the building, whilst creating positive connections between internal spaces and the surrounding landscape. At ground level, the landscape is envisaged as a series of connected rooms, mirroring the internal configurations thus ensuring that learning activities can spill out in a controlled manner. A cafe is intended as a marker near the building entrance, aiming to help de-stigmatise preconceptions of mental health and wellbeing, by making the building more accessible to the wider community.
Spatially, the building is planned as a series of flexible, sub-dividable spaces positioned around a central multifunctional tiered space, navigated by a grand ‘open’ staircase. The open staircase is intended to encourage a domestic scale circulation system and is set away from the lift core to encourage movement and visible activity.
The aim was to create a stronger visual link between floors enhancing the ethos of an immersive learning environment.
Images from left to right:
1. ORTUS, the Home of Maudsley Learning, north elevation, photo Jack Hobhouse
2. ORTUS, the Home of Maudsley Learning, ground floor café, photo Jack Hobhouse
3. ORTUS, the Home of Maudsley Learning, ground floor welcome desk, photo Jack Hobhouse
4. ORTUS, the Home of Maudsley Learning, staircase and multi-use learning space, photo Jack Hobhouse
The building has been conceived as a free-standing pavilion, of simple rectilinear form, with elevations composed to compliment the Georgian principles of proportion, scale, hierarchy and materiality. A vertical grid articulates the contrasting materials of brick and glass, whilst floor slabs are expressed in the same material. Terraces at ground, inset balconies above, and a large roof terrace further articulate the simplicity of the building, whilst creating positive connections between internal spaces and the surrounding landscape. At ground level, the landscape is envisaged as a series of connected rooms, mirroring the internal configurations thus ensuring that learning activities can spill out in a controlled manner. A cafe is intended as a marker near the building entrance, aiming to help de-stigmatise preconceptions of mental health and wellbeing, by making the building more accessible to the wider community.
Spatially, the building is planned as a series of flexible, sub-dividable spaces positioned around a central multifunctional tiered space, navigated by a grand ‘open’ staircase. The open staircase is intended to encourage a domestic scale circulation system and is set away from the lift core to encourage movement and visible activity.
The aim was to create a stronger visual link between floors enhancing the ethos of an immersive learning environment.
Images from left to right:
1. ORTUS, the Home of Maudsley Learning, north elevation, photo Jack Hobhouse
2. ORTUS, the Home of Maudsley Learning, ground floor café, photo Jack Hobhouse
3. ORTUS, the Home of Maudsley Learning, ground floor welcome desk, photo Jack Hobhouse
4. ORTUS, the Home of Maudsley Learning, staircase and multi-use learning space, photo Jack Hobhouse
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Featherstone Young
SERICC - South Essex Rape & Incest Crisis Centre
2004
The design of a Rape and Incest Crisis Centre demands a challenging architectural response to an extreme social condition. Sexual violence against women and girls is, even now, an unspoken social taboo. A charity and independent centre, non-judgmental and non-religious, SERICC is one of the oldest running centres in the UK, set up by a group of women who all had experience of sexual violence.
SERICC is located in a church hall within the grounds of a graveyard - a bleak setting with religious, moralistic overtones that SERICC wanted to disassociate themselves from. Featherstone Young approached the project with the willingness to address the social status and the psychological mindset of women who used it. The practice developed emotional maps which recorded the impact of the environment on the women’s wellbeing. This initial research was transformed into a series of design concepts, among which the window pods and the central ribbon wall.
The window pods placed on the outside of the building immediately softened the bleak approach to the centre. Inside, the pods serve individual counselling rooms – intimate, cocoon-like spaces – each offering a different atmosphere favoured by different women. They are affectionately known as the ‘listening ears’ and make users feel safe and relaxed, providing a non-statutory environment which reinforces SERICC’s mission as an “independent confidential organisation”. The central “ribbon wall”, around which private and public circulation spaces were arranged, provides acoustic and visual separation between the main offices and counselling rooms. It is a moving flexible wall that can be closed or opened up depending on a woman’s mindset, creating spaces of varying degrees of privacy and confidence within the space. These organic, modular spaces correspond to users’ needs, accommodating different stages of each individual relationship with the centre and providing a safe, private, comfortable environment.
Images from left to right:
1. SERICC Crisis Centre, window pods from outside, photo Tim Brotherton
2. SERICC Crisis Centre, ribbon wall detail, photo Tim Brotherton
3. SERICC Crisis Centre, window pod counselling room, photo Tim Brotherton
SERICC is located in a church hall within the grounds of a graveyard - a bleak setting with religious, moralistic overtones that SERICC wanted to disassociate themselves from. Featherstone Young approached the project with the willingness to address the social status and the psychological mindset of women who used it. The practice developed emotional maps which recorded the impact of the environment on the women’s wellbeing. This initial research was transformed into a series of design concepts, among which the window pods and the central ribbon wall.
The window pods placed on the outside of the building immediately softened the bleak approach to the centre. Inside, the pods serve individual counselling rooms – intimate, cocoon-like spaces – each offering a different atmosphere favoured by different women. They are affectionately known as the ‘listening ears’ and make users feel safe and relaxed, providing a non-statutory environment which reinforces SERICC’s mission as an “independent confidential organisation”. The central “ribbon wall”, around which private and public circulation spaces were arranged, provides acoustic and visual separation between the main offices and counselling rooms. It is a moving flexible wall that can be closed or opened up depending on a woman’s mindset, creating spaces of varying degrees of privacy and confidence within the space. These organic, modular spaces correspond to users’ needs, accommodating different stages of each individual relationship with the centre and providing a safe, private, comfortable environment.
Images from left to right:
1. SERICC Crisis Centre, window pods from outside, photo Tim Brotherton
2. SERICC Crisis Centre, ribbon wall detail, photo Tim Brotherton
3. SERICC Crisis Centre, window pod counselling room, photo Tim Brotherton
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Keppie Design
Ronald McDonald House
Yorkhill Family House
2015
Ronald McDonald House Glasgow designed by Keppie Design has been conceived as a ‘home from home’ to provide shelter and comfort to the families of children being treated at the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children. As such, the core concept was to create a calming backdrop for guests to try and find a sense of the familiar in a foreign, temporary environment.
The designers sought to create an architecture that addressed the inherent sensitivities of an end user reaching out for comfort and reassurance, but also embodied the surrounding character of Govan’s industrial urban context, as opposed to the often institutional, homogenous building stock of the existing hospital campus.
The result is a series of vernacular white brick forms, interconnected by green-roofed, white concrete porticos, in turn creating an identifiable silhouette on Govan Road and shielding the house from the noise. The plan forms a series of semi-enclosed courtyards providing visual and physical amenity space to the residents. These enclosures, in conjunction with the materiality of the brick, bring domesticity and human scale to the scheme, whilst offering an urban oasis of vibrant trees, shrubs and plants. The facility was designed to be easy to use regardless of language barriers, concentration levels or emotional vulnerability.
Occupying a constrained corner site between two main arteries into the new ‘super hospital’, Ronald McDonald House dramatically lifts the area, bringing domesticity back to the increasingly institutional and hospitalised landscape. Guests have commented on the facility as being a beautiful and uplifting home in which to share experiences with other families, but at the same time providing refuge in private zones when required.
Images from left to right:
1. Ronald McDonald House, exterior, photo Cadzow/Pelosi
2. Ronald McDonald House, communal space, photo Cadzow/Pelosi Ronald
3. Ronald McDonald House, courtyard, photo Cadzow/Pelosi
4. Ronald McDonald House, communal spaces vertical circulation, photo Cadzow/Pelosi
The designers sought to create an architecture that addressed the inherent sensitivities of an end user reaching out for comfort and reassurance, but also embodied the surrounding character of Govan’s industrial urban context, as opposed to the often institutional, homogenous building stock of the existing hospital campus.
The result is a series of vernacular white brick forms, interconnected by green-roofed, white concrete porticos, in turn creating an identifiable silhouette on Govan Road and shielding the house from the noise. The plan forms a series of semi-enclosed courtyards providing visual and physical amenity space to the residents. These enclosures, in conjunction with the materiality of the brick, bring domesticity and human scale to the scheme, whilst offering an urban oasis of vibrant trees, shrubs and plants. The facility was designed to be easy to use regardless of language barriers, concentration levels or emotional vulnerability.
Occupying a constrained corner site between two main arteries into the new ‘super hospital’, Ronald McDonald House dramatically lifts the area, bringing domesticity back to the increasingly institutional and hospitalised landscape. Guests have commented on the facility as being a beautiful and uplifting home in which to share experiences with other families, but at the same time providing refuge in private zones when required.
Images from left to right:
1. Ronald McDonald House, exterior, photo Cadzow/Pelosi
2. Ronald McDonald House, communal space, photo Cadzow/Pelosi Ronald
3. Ronald McDonald House, courtyard, photo Cadzow/Pelosi
4. Ronald McDonald House, communal spaces vertical circulation, photo Cadzow/Pelosi
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Foster + Partners
Maggie’s at the Christie, Machester
Maggie’s Centres
2016
Located across Britain and abroad, Maggie’s Centres are conceived to provide a welcoming place of refuge where people affected by cancer can find emotional and practical support. Inspired by the blueprint for a new type of care set out by Maggie Keswick Jencks, they place great value upon the power of architecture to lift the spirits and help in the process of therapy. The design of the Manchester centre aims to establish a domestic atmosphere in a garden setting and, appropriately, is first glimpsed at the end of a tree-lined street, a short walk from The Christie Hospital and its leading oncology unit.
The building occupies a sunny site and is arranged over a single storey, keeping its profile low and reflecting the residential scale of the surrounding streets. The roof rises in the centre to create a mezzanine level supported by lightweight timber lattice beams. The beams act as natural partitions between different internal areas, visually dissolving the architecture into the surrounding gardens. The centre combines a variety of spaces, from intimate private niches to a library, exercise rooms and places to gather and share a cup of tea. The heart of the building is the kitchen, which is centred on a large, communal table. Support offices are placed on a mezzanine level positioned on top of a wide central spine, with toilets and storage spaces below, maintaining natural visual connections across the building.
Throughout the centre, there is a focus on natural light, greenery and garden views. The rectilinear plan is punctuated by landscaped courtyards and the entire western elevation extends into a wide veranda, which is sheltered from the rain by the deep overhang of the roof. Sliding glass doors open the building up to a garden setting created by Dan Pearson Studio. Each treatment and counselling room on the eastern façade faces its own private garden. The south end of the building, extends to embrace a greenhouse that provides a garden retreat, a space for people to gather, to work with their hands and enjoy the therapeutic qualities of nature and the outdoors.
Images from left to right:
1. Maggie’s Centre Manchester, timber beams and communal space, photo Nigel Young
2. Maggie’s Centre Manchester, view from the garden, photo Nigel Young
3. Maggie’s Centre Manchester, winter garden, photo Nigel Young
The building occupies a sunny site and is arranged over a single storey, keeping its profile low and reflecting the residential scale of the surrounding streets. The roof rises in the centre to create a mezzanine level supported by lightweight timber lattice beams. The beams act as natural partitions between different internal areas, visually dissolving the architecture into the surrounding gardens. The centre combines a variety of spaces, from intimate private niches to a library, exercise rooms and places to gather and share a cup of tea. The heart of the building is the kitchen, which is centred on a large, communal table. Support offices are placed on a mezzanine level positioned on top of a wide central spine, with toilets and storage spaces below, maintaining natural visual connections across the building.
Throughout the centre, there is a focus on natural light, greenery and garden views. The rectilinear plan is punctuated by landscaped courtyards and the entire western elevation extends into a wide veranda, which is sheltered from the rain by the deep overhang of the roof. Sliding glass doors open the building up to a garden setting created by Dan Pearson Studio. Each treatment and counselling room on the eastern façade faces its own private garden. The south end of the building, extends to embrace a greenhouse that provides a garden retreat, a space for people to gather, to work with their hands and enjoy the therapeutic qualities of nature and the outdoors.
Images from left to right:
1. Maggie’s Centre Manchester, timber beams and communal space, photo Nigel Young
2. Maggie’s Centre Manchester, view from the garden, photo Nigel Young
3. Maggie’s Centre Manchester, winter garden, photo Nigel Young
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