An exquisite building created with loving care
dRMM Architects for Maggie's
Contract value: Confidential
GIA: 260m²
Built in the grounds of the Royal Oldham Hospital, Maggie’s Oldham lifts the spirits and inspires people to cope with cancer and its treatments. Raised on six slender columns, the building floats over a new garden of pine, birch and tulip trees. A ‘tree of life’ grows through the building. On entering, visitors are surprised by the space, light and views to the garden below, to the sky and to the Pennine horizon.
As the first tulipwood CLT building in the world, dRMM’s design challenges the synthetic palette of hospital architecture. Every detail is considered, including oak door handles in lieu of metal ones because people undergoing chemotherapy feel pain from cold surfaces, and protecting the terrace from UV by creating an overhanging roof. With one in three people suffering from cancer and 400 visits per week, the building’s importance is clear. It is an exquisite building created with loving care, yet economical, efficient and sustainable.