Date: 01 October 07
Author: Caroline Ednie, Web Editor
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The Fife Maggie’s Centre in the grounds of the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy is Zaha Hadid’s first UK building to see the light of day. Having taken the best part of 25 years to realise her first permanent building in her adopted country, the London based 2004 Pritzker Prize winner’s first UK building is low-key by Hadid standards, yet responds sensitively to the brief for life enhancing cancer care provision which is at once domestic in scale but unique in execution.
The overall objective for the design of is to form a transition between the two different types of surrounding space, namely the natural landscape and the car park and hospital. Externally the design is a play between the form a folding surface and a connecting ground slab. The folding surface articulates a directional emphasis of moving the visitor into a different space from the rest of the hospital grounds. This folded surface is articulated by cladding the visible roof and two opposing walls with the same material, a sheet cladding of corten steel. The remaining elevations, in a mix of translucent and clear glass, reinforce the directional nature of this form.
Internally the arrangement of rooms is centred on an open plan kitchen. The entrance is located at the corner underneath a roof overhang. A direct view exists from the entrance at the northeast through the central space of the kitchen to the south facing glass elevation. The view of a hidden landscape through this space is the intended first impression for the visitor upon entering the centre.
The £1million building, most of which was raised by public subscription, and which the architect herself worked on for expenses only, is the latest in an impressive line-up of Maggie’s Centres in Scotland, including Frank Gehry’s Dundee building and Page and Park Architect’s 2006 Andrew Doolan Award winning centre in Inverness.
Project: Fife Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre
Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects
Client: Maggie’s Centres
Location: Kirkcaldy, Fife
Cost: £1 million
Link: www.zaha-hadid.com
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