Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres at the V&A + RIBA Architecture Gallery
Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres have been designed by some of the world’s most high profile architects including Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, Richard Rogers and Zaha Hadid to provide welcoming and uplifting spaces and support for those affected by cancer. To mark the 15th anniversary of the first Maggie’s Centre, the V&A will present the first comprehensive study of these remarkable buildings in the V&A + RIBA Architecture Gallery.
The display will look at the network of seven buildings in the UK from the first centre which opened in Edinburgh in 1996, to the Stirling Prize winning centre in London by Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners which opened in 2008 and the newly-opened Maggie’s Cheltenham. There will also be models for six further centres to be opened before 2012, including designs by Wilkinson Eyre and Kisho Kurokawa.
Maggie’s Centres represent some of the most creative architectural spaces in the UK. Focused closely on the needs of people with cancer, their brief has been used by architects as a canvas for experimentation. Each site will be explored through models, drawings and photographs. Specially-commissioned films interviewing both the architects and patients who benefit from the centres will examine the restorative and inspiring power of the Centres.
Sir Mark Jones, Director of the V&A said: "Maggies’s Centres demonstrate the power of architecture and design to improve quality of life. We are delighted to be celebrating their achievement at the V&A.”
The display is co-curated by the V&A and Maggie’s.
Notes to Editors
• Admission: FREE, as is admission to the V&A
• For more information about the V&A + RIBA partnership visit www.vam.ac.uk/architecture
About Maggie’s
Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres are named after Maggie Keswick Jencks who had a vision to create a network of imaginatively designed drop-in care centres after she was diagnosed with cancer in 1993. Co-founded with her husband, architectural writer and critic Charles Jencks, all Maggie’s Centres are created in
line with Maggie’s belief in the power of buildings to uplift people and provide a positive environment for care and support. Patrons of the charity include Frank Gehry, Jon Snow, Kirsty Wark, and Sarah Brown. www.maggiescentres.org
Maggie’s Centres
• Maggie’s Edinburgh (designed by Richard Murphy)
• Maggie’s Glasgow (designed by Page and Park)
• Maggie’s Dundee (designed by Frank Gehry of Gehry and Partners)
• Maggie’s Highlands (designed by Page and Park)
• Maggie’s Fife (designed by Zaha Hadid of Zaha Hadid Architects)
• Maggie’s London (designed by Richard Rogers of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners)
• Maggie’s Cheltenham( designed by Sir Richard MacCormac CBE of MacCormac Jameison and Pritchard Architects)
Maggie’s Centres projected to open before 2012:
• Maggie’s Gartnavel (Glasgow) (designed by Rem Koolhaas of Office of Metropolitan Architecture)
• Maggie’s South West Wales (designed by Dr Kisho Kurokawa of ArBITAT Architects)
• Maggie’s Oxford (designed by Chris Wilkinson of Wilkinson Eyre Architects)
• Maggie’s Nottingham (designed by Piers Gough of CZWG Architects, interior design by Sir Paul Smith)
• Maggie’s North East (designed by Ted Cullinan of Edward Cullinan Architects)
• Maggie’s Lanarkshire (designed by Neil Gillespie of Reiach and Hall)
For more PRESS information about this display call the V&A Press Office on 020 7942 2500 or email press.office@vam.ac.uk.
For more PRESS information on Maggie’s Centres call Katie Tait on 020 7386 3535 or katie.tait@maggiescentre.org.
There is a selection of images available to download from pressimages.vam.ac.uk.