On the occasion of Pritzker Prize-winning architect Lord Norman Foster's 80th birthday last June, we wrote about his recently finished work and proposals for future projects. One such proposal was this Maggie's Center in Manchester, England, which was announced in 2014 and has just reached completion, the latest center from the Scottish charity.
Envisioned as holistic clinics created to provide supplementary healthcare for cancer patients, survivors, and their families in sensitively designed environments, Maggie's Centers across the United Kingdom have been designed by some rather high-profile architects, including Zaha Hadid (in Fife, Scotland) and Frank Gehry (in Dundee, Scotland).
This Foster + Partners-designed center, which opens fully at the end of May and is expected to accommodate 60,000 visitors a year, has a the look of a winged greenhouse. Its birdlike, angular wood frame accommodates common areas, treatment and counseling rooms, and a plant-filled conservatory meant to help promote a sense of calm in spite of the stress of living with cancer.
Lord Norman Foster, a cancer survivor himself, said at the inauguration ceremony for the new building that he strived to create the kind of peaceful environment offering "information, sanctuary, and support."
∙ foster + partners' maggie's centre in manchester created as a garden retreat [Designboom]
∙ At 80, Norman Foster Still Designs Any Damn Thing He Pleases [Curbed]
∙ All Architecture coverage [Curbed]