Understanding the Maggie’s Centres: An Architecture of Care

This book provides designers and students with the first in-depth analysis of the architecture of the world-renowned Maggie’s Cancer Care Centres, conceived by Maggie Keswick Jencks, a terminally ill cancer patient, and her husband Charles Jencks, landscape designer and architectural critic.The book explores the interactions between architecture and social activity in the centres and examines how and why they are so successful -- addressing themes from the brief (Maggie Jencks’ ‘Blueprint’), to the manipulation of sensory and atmospheric qualities, to how the surrounding environment provides occupants with a sense of refuge and comfort.The book also includes a comparative review of all 28 Maggie’s Centres, designed by a select list of celebrated architects (including Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Richard Rogers, and Snøhetta) and features over 60 pages of building information - an invaluable reference source for designers alongside the main thematic discussion. The success of the Maggie’s C