Maggie's Centre _ Building Hope, Aspirations and Resilience

COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Department of Architecture and Design, Islamabad

Project idea

Maggie's is a great example of how Architecture can play a role in a person's healing. Turning life into a beautiful bright story and killing the seeds of grief in your heart.

Project description

Cancer is a widespread and often feared disease caused by uncontrollable division of cells, it can affect all people old and young, healthy and unhealthy and because of the difficult treatment options, fear of death, being diagnosed and living with cancer or after surviving cancer may bring unpleasant emotions and reactions alongside physical side effects from treatment and illness.
By standing in the shoes of the user; or designing the space like i wanted it to be going through the cancer treatment myself, I feel the importance of good healing architecture that can really change our lives for better. Green sensory space, water bodies, closer connection to nature, daylight, plants, interacting with people going through the same journey will definitely play a part in the physical and emotional healing. Cancer is not just a physical disease, we are so blinded by the weak bodies and bald heads that we tend to ignore the emotional and mental aspect of it, the beast that's growing in our bodies is not just the tumor but the fear of isolation, death and losing your sanity. It should be an extremely domestic building; shining like a beacon of hope. Buildings and gardens shall invite people and shouldn't belittle people. A building can save your life, the process can save your life.
walking under the shadow of the tree, over the sensory pathway, to interact with the nature and the built environment and other people like me. starting under the shadow of the tree, here i reach in the city of hope , comfort and resilience and i still ponder how the beauty found its space and weaved its way into the beast of cancer, the contrasts in nature's face getting close to it. Using the process to heal, this is what this project gave me, hope, beauty, the process and this life!!!

Technical information

This project is located in the midst of the beautiful mountains of Abbottabad, KPK, Pakistan, in Ayub Medical Complex. Main concerns while designing the building were to restore the rituals and having a human handprint in the design, shaping the building according to the movement of light and using the process of building for healing of community.
The focus of project was to create a culturally sensitive sustainable design sensitive to the user.