Architecture collective Assemble has received planning permission for a Maggie’s Centre at Maidstone Hospital, which will feature pitched volumes to reflect Kent’s local culture and landscape.
Like all centres created by the Maggie’s charity, Maggie’s Kent will aim to provide support to cancer patients and their families in a more homely setting than a typical hospital. The centre will contain a welcoming kitchen area, rooms for one-to-one cancer support, and larger spaces for group gatherings and exercise classes.
Natural and local materials will be used to build the centre, which is expected to support 20,000 annual visitors once it is complete in 2028.
Images of the design show white-rendered volumes topped with tiled, pitched roofs punctured with skylights.
The interior will feature stone block walls, exposed timber roofs, wood-panelled surfaces and large windows overlooking the garden space, which will be designed by landscape architects J&L Gibbons.
Founded by Maggie Keswick Jencks and Charles Jencks, Maggie’s has commissioned some of the world’s most famous architects to design its centres, including Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Richard Rogers and Frank Gehry.
An exhibition of Maggie’s 30-year history recently opened at the V&A Dundee, exhibiting drawings and models of its centres.
