Design inspired by the nearby New Forest

1. Maggie's Southampton designed by AL_A. Photo © Hufton+Crow

The cancer care centre has been designed recreate the ecology of the nearby New Forest

AL_A has completed its Maggie’s cancer care centre for Southampton General Hospital.

Amanda Levete’s practice described the centre, which opens this month, as a “woodland oasis”.

Almost three quarters of the site has been used to create four gardens which are intended to reflect the ecology of the nearby New Forest.

Levete said: “We have imagined that a piece of garden has been transported from the New Forest into the midst of the hospital’s car park, bringing serenity and a bit of magic to the place.”

13. Maggie's Southampton designed by AL_A. Photo © Hufton+Crow

The centre will open later this month

Four ceramic walls radiating out from the main building divide the gardens, while mottled stainless steel panels which clad the exterior of the building provide distorted reflections of the surrounding greenery.

Landscape designer Sarah Price, who co-designed the 2012 Gardens at the Olympic Park in London, said the gardens are planted with native New Forest species including wood anemones, orchids, wild garlic, mosses and ferns.

5. Maggie's Southampton designed by AL_A. Photo © Hufton+Crow

Four gardens divided by ceramic walls surround the main building

Like all Maggie’s centres, it is designed with a kitchen table beneath a skylight at its heart.

Leading off from the central space is a series of private areas, consulting rooms and quiet spaces which open on to the gardens through full-height glazed doors.

3. Maggie's Southampton designed by AL_A. Photo © Hufton+Crow

Like all Maggie’s centres, the building is designed around a central space containing a kitchen table and a skylight

Maggie’s chief executive Laura Lee said AL_A had “interpreted our brief beautifully and their exacting attention to detail has created a stunning building with large windows that flood the centre with natural light”.

2. Maggie's Southampton designed by AL_A. Photo © Hufton+Crow

Quiet private spaces and consulting rooms lead off from the central area

Maggie’s centres have been designed by a string of high-profile architects including Thomas Heatherwick, Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry. Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners’ centre in west London was awarded the Stirling Prize.

Last week, AL_A was revealed as the architect behind a demonstration nuclear fusion power plant which will be built in Oxfordshire.

>> Building Study: Maggie’s Centre at the Royal Marsden, Sutton, by Ab Rogers Design

 

4. Maggie's Southampton designed by AL_A. Photo © Hufton+Crow

Mottled steel panels which clad the exterior of the building reflect the surrounding greenery