The Churchill hospital is positioned on the outskirts of Oxford, past the throng of the city, in the space where the landscape begins to open out. At the edge of its car park, the ground falls away abruptly, a small brook threads its way through hornbeam and hawthorn trees and one swaps tarmac and plant rooms for woodland.
Above this, raised on a series of glulaminated timber columns, is Wilkinson Eyre Architects' Maggie's Oxford Centre. This is the eighteenth centre of its kind to be built since the charity opened its first centre in Edinburgh 18 years ago. Since then, some of the world's best architects have lent their skills to designing the centres, which have developed their own typology: somewhere between a home, social club and a place of medical respite, where patients, friends and family of those affected by cancer can receive practical and emotional support. Maggie's motto is the belief that people should not lose the joy of living in the fear of dying.
Director Chris Wilkinson describes the small angular building as being akin to a treehouse. His practice lobbied hard to win permission to build on this site, and have made the most of its assets, treading lightly on the landscape, providing portholes in the floor to view the flora and fauna beneath its belly and directing the views from its large rooms toward the trees and brook beyond. The plan is tricorn-shaped, with the kitchen and living space at its heart and separate consulting rooms in a private corner. Ply-faced walls make for a warm and calm interior while an external terrace allows visitors to enjoy the woodland views; a stairway down to ground level means they can easily walk amongst the tree stumps, looking untoward the belly of the centre.
The structure was prefabricated in Germany and assembled on site, making for a quick build. The interiors are sober and restrained, with just a few moments of enjoyable gaudy glam - a colourful rug in the relaxation room, designed by Diana Edmonds, and a triangular table in brass and resin, custom-designed by Wilkinson Eyre.
A relaxed kitchen and living space is situated at the centre's heart.
The Oxford centre is the eighteenth of its kind to be built since the charity opened its first centre in Edinburgh eighteen years ago.
Somewhere between a home, social club and a place of medical respite, the centre provides an environment where patients, friends and family of those affected by cancer can receive practical and emotional support.
An external terrace allows visitors to enjoy the woodland views, while a stairway down to ground level means they can easily walk amongst the tree stumps.
Ply-faced walls make for a warm and calm interior.
ADDRESS
Churchill Hospital
Old Road
Oxford
OX3 7LE
-
A new timber studio in the Czech Republic is carefully integrated into its hillside sitePäivä Architekti’s Czech Studio Above the Golden Canyon takes advantage of impressive views
-
Aussie vibes meet Parisian grandeur? This Sydney apartment pulls off the unlikely combinationLongtime clients of Dylan Farrell Design trusted the studio to go bold with the gut renovation of their Sydney flat – now an intriguing study in contrasts
-
Carlo Ratti reflects on his bold Venice Architecture Biennale as it closes this weekendThe Venice Architecture Biennale opens with excitement and fanfare every two years; as the 2025 edition draws to a close, we take stock with its curator Carlo Ratti and ask him, what next?
-
Can design make you healthier? Inside the architecture of wellnessAs wellness-focused Gen Z enters the marketplace, buildings are no longer being viewed as merely containers for living and working – they're environments that influence physical and mental wellbeing. How can we create spaces that support health and humanity?
-
CABN’s Canadian prefab offers a flexible path to low-cost, low-energy livingThis simple wooden cabin by CABN is designed to be the bedrock of future net-zero communities
-
Ab Rogers reimagines healthcare architecture with The Third Carer conceptWe explore the future of healthcare architecture with Ab Rogers through his new research concept and book, The Third Carer
-
New London health centre more akin to a spaThreefold Architects takes its cues from the hospitality industry to design new London health centre, (med)24
-
Miguel Ángel Aragonés pioneers aluminium prefab house designArchitect Miguel Ángel Aragonés introduces PI, an innovative aluminium prefab house design for Mexico and beyond
-
Projects Office completes healing space for young mental health patientsProjects Office designs carefully composed, functional and colourful healing space for young mental health patients in Edinburgh
-
Maggie’s Southampton by Amanda Levete sits in a woodland oasisThe new Maggie's Centre next to Southampton General Hospital has been designed by Amanda Levete’s AL_A and features bold, geometric forms set within a woodland oasis of architectural gardens by Sarah Price
-
New Los Angeles clinic rethinks women’s healthcare designHealthcare start-up Tia unveils its first location in Los Angeles’ Silverlake neighbourhood to a design by New York-based studio Alda Ly Architecture
