Timber Awards 2015: Maggie’s Lanarkshire

Learn about cancer care centre Maggie’s Lanarkshire, which was shortlisted for the RIAS Best Use of Timber Award 2015.

A light filled seating area with wooden beams in the ceiling, two comfortable armchairs and light streaming in from a large window
Published: 14/12/2015

Airdrie House was once defined and protected by a belt of lime trees. In 1919 its owners bequeathed Airdrie House and its lands to the people of Airdrie, and it subsequently became a maternity hospital.

In 1964 Airdrie House was demolished to make way for the Monklands Hospital and while the tree belt survived, over time car parking needs increased. The site for Maggie’s Lanarkshire is located on one of these car park areas.

Case study: Timber Awards 2015 – Maggie’s Lanarkshire

Download this case study to take away key learning and project information from Maggie’s Lanarkshire.

The project

In a gesture that attempts to reinstate the idea of a boundary, the new Maggie’s embraces two detached strands of trees with a finely articulated brick wall, bringing a sense of continuity and enclosure. The wall offers a subtle degree of separation from the hospital grounds, through its pierced nature.

The garden walls of the new Maggie’s conceal a modest low building that gathers a sequence of domestic-scaled spaces, both internal and external.

Visitors enter a quiet, simple space, an arrival court, defined by low brick wall and two lime trees. A linear rill, a spring, animates the space with the sound of running water.

The building plan is perforated with four small, sheltered courts, intimate external rooms embedded in the plan. Golden metal light catchers hover over these spaces and reflect sunlight onto the floor.

A simple, repetitive framed structure defines and creates an intimate scale. It does this while allowing spaces and rooms to either open to the central sequence of public rooms or close down to create private moments. The journey through the building emerges out into a large walled garden; generous terraces give way to a richly planted garden.

An interior view of a large social space with blonde wooden walls and furniture looking out towards a window leading to a green space

Maggie's Lanarkshire: dining area

A space for eating and conversing for patients and staff. Image credit: David Grandorge

Use of timber

At Maggie’s the architects tried to explore the idea of building again. In these days of contractor-designed portions, prefabrication, and work packages, they found a real joy to return to making, rather than assembling. Maggie’s is wholly defined by something that can be measured by the human hand. It was about having a level of skill and precision that would fill the building with wonderful haptic qualities, rather than that which can be easily replicated.

All the joinery at Maggie’s is bespoke. A simple steel-framed structure disciplines this plan by creating a forest of slender columns that define and create an infinite scale. The steel frame is in-filled in timber. This creates a fine-gridded timber canopy that spans between the steel columns, strengthening the idea of a forest canopy overhead.

The work of artist Steven Aalders greatly influenced the interpretation of this timber canopy. The soffit has this same rigour overhead, creating an undulating timber crown to the modest interior. But much like Steven’s work, there is a variety of texture that helps bring colour, movement and light into the interior.

The overall timber material palette is muted and soft: blonde Finnish birch to walls, limed oak to floors and white stained pine to ceilings.

An interior shot of a kitchen and social area with light coloured wood and a large window at the back of the building

Maggie's Lanarkshire: kitchen

Shared kitchen area for patients and staff with soft muted colours and open plan space. Image credit: David Grandorge

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