Maggie Center in Aberdeen by Snøhetta

The idea of establishing community centers for people affected by cancer was brought forward years ago by British architectural theorist Charles Jencks in memory of his wife Maggie. Since then, a number of Maggie centers designed by Jencks' friends have been created in England – Rogers, Kurokawa, Gehry, Hadid, Koolhaas. The centers established by a private foundation are always connected to a hospital, but they do not provide any medical services themselves. They primarily serve cancer patients for communication, meetings, providing help and support. The last completed Maggie center is located in Aberdeen, Scotland, and was designed by the Norwegian studio Snøhetta. At the grand opening of the center last Monday, Kjetil Thorsen, one of the main representatives of the Oslo studio, added that “the center is small in scale, but incomparably larger in content”. The project, reminiscent of a cut egg in shape, is situated in the campus of Foresterhill Hospital in Aberdeen on the edge of Westburn Field. On one side, it directly connects to the hospital, but its shape opens up more to the southwest into the landscape. The organically shaped white outer form protects the wooden-clad cubes inside. The space between the 'hard and soft' surfaces has given rise to an internal atrium with a garden. The main program is located on the ground floor, with supplementary offices on the upper floor.

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