John Hartson opens Maggie’s Centre South West Wales
On friday 9th December John Hartson, former Welsh international footballer and previous Maggie’s patient opened the £3m doors to the tenth Maggie’s Centre. Located at Singleton Hospital in Swansea, Maggie’s South West Wales was designed by World famous Japanese architect Dr Kisho Kurokawa who sadly died in 2007. Thore Garbers and Wendy James of Garbers & James met with Kurokawa whilst he was still alive and so undertook the delivery of his project as executive architects. The building sits within the landscape designed and created by Kim Wilkie.
Maggie’s South West Wales will complement the treatment provided at Singleton Hospital, offering an evidence-based programme of support to help people through the emotional and practical complexities of a cancer diagnosis. Maggie’s South West Wales like all Maggie’s Centres is free to visit, no appointment is necessary and can be used by anyone affected by cancer as well as their family and friends.
In the South West Wales area, there are more than 3,000 new cases of cancer a year. Uniquely, Maggie’s South West Wales will be the first centre to collaborate with the local Medical Genetics service to offer information and practical support to people who are at risk of cancer, based on family history. Maggie’s Chief Executive Laura Lee says “Dr Kisho Kurokawa and Kim Wilkie have conceived a truly unique environment, which will help to facilitate this support, by making people feel safe, inspired and valued. Under one extraordinary roof, Maggie’s will help people to find their way out of the hopelessness of cancer.”
“The new Maggie’s Centre will come out of the earth and swing around with two arms like a rotating galaxy.” Says Dr Kisho Kurokawa who was a great friend of Maggie Keswick Jencks (founder of Maggie’s). Dr. Kurokawa based his design on the concept of a cosmic whirlpool, representing a strong symbol of life, with everlasting forces swirling around a still center. The spiral segments of the building conceptually engage alternate segments of earth and water, separated by shafts of warm light. Privacy and functionality spiral out from the calm yet social elliptical center, the wings and associated external spaces offer up more personal and focused areas for contemplation within the wooden landscape. Kurokawa goes on to say, “One side will welcome the visitor and lead to the other side, which embraces nature, the trees, rocks and water. The connection to the cosmos and contacts between East and West – two motives that Maggie and I shared – are in the design. I hope she would have liked it.”
Words by Gem Barton
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