Maggie’s exhibition on healing architecture joins V&A Dundee programme for 2026

The exhibition, Maggie’s: Architecture that Cares, tells the story of how Maggie's came to be a network of unique centres across the UK and beyond, with healing architecture and design to support people after a cancer diagnosis.

The free exhibition will be running from 6 March 2026 until 1 November 2026 at the V&A Dundee, Scotland's design museum. No booking is required.

Maggie's: Architecture that Cares

Thirty years ago, after learning her cancer had returned, designer, gardener and writer Maggie Keswick Jencks dreamt of spaces that would help people “to not lose the joy of living in the fear of dying”.

Now, more than 30 centres exist across the UK and beyond, designed by globally recognised architects including Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Richard Rogers, Norman Foster and Benedetta Tagliabue. They offer a haven of emotional, practical, and psychological support to those affected by cancer.

Maggie’s believes that great design and architecture can help people feel better, and this philosophy is central to every centre. Each Maggie’s centre is designed with care and is completely unique to its setting, yet they’re all designed from the same brief.

Maggie's: Architecture that Cares will explore the design of these radically different buildings that put the importance of human connection and nature at their heart. With a warm welcome and a sense of home, every centre is beautiful, caring and surprising.

The free exhibition will bring this groundbreaking approach to life through the voices of centre visitors and staff, as well as the architects who designed the buildings.

Featuring newly commissioned film and interviews, personal objects, photography, sketches and architects’ models, and quiet reflective spaces, it will illuminate how the architecture makes people feel and the effect it has on their wellbeing.

The story behind Maggie's

Maggie’s: Architecture that Cares tells the story of how Maggie, a garden designer, and her oncology nurse Laura Lee came up with the blueprint for a new model of cancer care. Encouraged by her husband, the architectural historian Charles Jencks, they decided that inspirational design should be at the forefront of their plan to give people with cancer “a place of their own” – a place to turn to that is distinct from but close to the hospital.

Dame Laura Lee DBE is now Chief Executive at Maggie’s, and works together with Marcia Blakenham, a close friend of Maggie Keswick Jencks who acts as co-client on every project. They work with architects to ensure the needs of centre visitors are central to each design, whilst encouraging creative freedom and flair.

The Maggie’s design brief asks architects to focus on how the spaces make visitors feel. The buildings should look and feel confident and reassuring, as well as inspiring curiosity and optimism.

30 years of Maggie's centres of cancer support

Dame Laura Lee DBE, Chief Executive at Maggie's, said: “To be celebrating 30 years of Maggie’s with an exhibition at V&A Dundee on the importance of our architecture and design, feels incredibly special.

“When Maggie first had a vision for a different type of cancer care, our offering was nothing short of groundbreaking and now, 30 years on, we’re at the forefront of transforming care for people impacted by cancer across the UK.

This exceptionally meaningful exhibition will help introduce new audiences to Maggie’s and our healing architecture ethos.

“I hope those visiting will leave knowing that there are warm, welcoming places to go for expert support if they, or their family and friends, are ever facing cancer. I also hope the exhibition will encourage the conversation that healing environments matter.”

Leonie Bell, Director of V&A Dundee, said: “V&A Dundee and Maggie’s share the belief that great design can make a difference to people’s lives.

“Maggie’s provides world-class cancer care in buildings that are globally recognised for their beauty but it’s the connection between these two things that sets them apart. V&A Dundee has the privilege of sharing a city with Maggie’s Dundee and we’re honoured that local centre visitors have contributed to the exhibition.

“What Maggie’s has achieved over the past 30 years is remarkable and I am very proud that this exhibition will tell these design stories alongside the model of Frank Gehry’s Dundee centre which is on display in our Scottish Design Galleries.”

Meredith More, Curator at V&A Dundee, said: “All the centre users we’ve spoken to in the process of curating this exhibition have told us that the inspirational architecture they encounter at Maggie’s has helped them in their cancer journey. Centre staff, from psychologists to benefits advisors, tell us that it helps people open up, that the buildings themselves play a caring role.

“This free exhibition aims to show how this is achieved, through the vision of architects and designers in response to an inspiring brief, but also through the strength of Maggie’s as clients.”

The exhibition will celebrate the Maggie’s design brief as a pioneering model for the transformative power of human-centred design and ask how these approaches could be more widely applied across all healthcare spaces.

Redefining cancer care with pioneering support

The first centre opened in Edinburgh at the Western General Hospital in 1996. Designed by Richard Murphy, it was a redevelopment of the old stable blocks, a colourful, homely building with a central kitchen table and multi-functional spaces. ‘The kitchen table’ still sits at the heart of the Maggie’s design philosophy, inviting centre users to make themselves at home and to find community. Maggie died before the centre opened in Edinburgh, but thanks to Laura and Marcia, her vision lives on.

Maggie’s Dundee was the first purpose-built centre. Opened in 2003, it was designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry and sits alongside Ninewells Hospital. The garden, designed by Arabella Lennox-Boyd, contains a labyrinth based on the one at Chartres Cathedral in France.

Like Maggie’s centres themselves, the V&A exhibition will have a focus on community. While Maggie’s centres have an international reputation, Maggie’s work hard to ensure each centre is designed around the needs of the people who use them. Centre visitors from Maggie’s Dundee have contributed towards the exhibition, sharing what matters most to them.

Over the past thirty years, Maggie’s has redefined cancer care, offering free psychological, emotional and practical support for people living with cancer as well as their family and friends. As cancer continues to impact more people than ever before, it’s vital that everyone who needs it has access to the support that Maggie’s offers.

In 2024, Maggie’s supported 327,000 visits, and by 2027, Maggie’s aims to support half a million visits from people with cancer and their families every year.

Visit the Maggie's exhibition and more at the V&A

The Maggie's: Architecture that Cares exhibition is free and on show at V&A Dundee in the Michelin Design Gallery from 6 March 2026 until 1 November 2026.

Also on the V&A Dundee programme for 2026 are Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show; and Design & Disability.

Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show (3 April 2026 until 17 January 2027, ticketed)

A UK exclusive to V&A Dundee, Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show charts the dramatic evolution of the catwalk, from the private salons of the late 19th century to today’s immersive, live-streamed runway experiences.

Design and Disability (4 June 2026 until spring 2027, free)

Design and Disability is both a celebration of Disabled-led design and a call for action, affirming the importance of embedding the experiences and expertise of Disabled people in design processes.

Healing spaces

Find out more about how the healing spaces at Maggie's can transform people's experience with cancer.