Located throughout the UK, Maggie’s Centres apply design thinking to the challenges of patients undergoing cancer treatment. Explore five of these outstanding works of integrated architectural design. See how cancer care is facilitated in buildings that are bright and unorthodox; that prioritize essential human needs of social gathering and private contemplation; and that introduce gardens into the daily lives of patients.

The design of the Centres signals a critical departure from what the typical hospital looks like, and more importantly, what these buildings feel like, stemming from founder Maggie Keswick Jencks’s insistence that patients should not “lose the joy of living in the fear of dying.” As healthcare in the US undergoes unprecedented levels of scrutiny over issues of cost, delivery, best practices, and outcomes, Maggie’s Centres offers a fascinating glimpse into the value of supplementary approaches to medical care. The buildings are designed as unique structures by some of today’s most renowned architects—including Frank Gehry, Piers Gough, Steven Holl, Rem Koolhaas, and Richard Rogers—in close collaboration with contemporary landscape designers, in contrast to the stark, impersonal atmosphere of many medical facilities.

This exhibition is organized by the New York School of Interior Design (NYSID) and organized for Carnegie Museum of Art by curator of architecture Raymund Ryan.