Maggie’s Centre Barts in London
- Claudia Fuchs
Located at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London's oldest clinic, the new building for Maggie's Centre, an open support centre for cancer sufferers, seems light and immaterial. While during the day the building is a compact volume with a shimmering envelope of matt glass, in the evening it becomes a light source that glows from within. The extension is docked to the north side of the Victorian main building, a listed monument, and its white translucent glass facade contrasts with the old building's weighty stone front. It responds to the stone blocks with a facade of bands of glazing that are filled with insulating capillary panels. On the two short sides these bands are horizontal, while on the north facade they run dynamically on the diagonal.
