V&A Dundee opens 'Maggie’s: Architecture That Cares' exhibition

Maggie's in Edinburgh

The first centre opened in Edinburgh at the Western General Hospital in 1996. 

Designed by Richard Murphy, it was 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 visitors to make themselves at home and to find community.

The exhibition honours the importance of the kitchen table with an 8-metre-long table housing over 20 architectural models. Including models of two new centres still under construction in Coventry and Stravanger, Norway and an extension to Maggie’s Fife.

The story of co-founder, Maggie Keswick Jencks

Maggie’s: Architecture that Cares tells the story of how Scottish artist, garden designer and writer Maggie Keswick Jencks came up with the blueprint for a new model of cancer care. 

Drawing on Maggie’s own experience of hospital corridors and cancer wards, she decided that inspirational design would be at the forefront of her mission to give people with cancer “a place of their own” – a place to turn to that is distinct from but close to the hospital. 

She shared her vision with her oncology nurse Dame Laura Lee DBE, who then worked with Maggie’s family and Viscountess Marica Blakenham, a close friend of Maggie’s, to turn that vision into reality after Maggie’s death.

Now, led by our Chief Executive Dame Laura Lee DBE, the charity selects architects and designers who can meet the challenge of creating spaces that strive to, as Maggie said, help people ‘not lose the joy of living in the fear of dying’. 

Dame Laura Lee DBE and Viscountess Marcia Blakenham act as co-clients on every project, working with architects to ensure the needs of centre visitors are central to each design, whilst encouraging creative freedom and flair. 

Architecture that cares

Maggie’s creates buildings that are themselves carers alongside the professional experts who work in the centres.

The exhibition explores the design principles that make Maggie’s centres so unique. For example, every centre aspires to be warm and welcoming. 

Maggie’s Barts does this by drawing visitors in with the translucent glow of its façade, while Maggie’s West London is shielded from its busy surroundings by a warm orange wall and a perfectly placed bench to allow visitors to pause before stepping inside. 

The buildings should also look and feel joyous. Maggie’s Royal Marsden showcases the psychological power of colour to change people’s mood with a cladding of glazed tiles of different shades of rich red, from carmine to coral.

Gardens are a crucial part of the Maggie’s design brief. 

They welcome visitors to the centre and provide a peaceful environment that supports the emotional and physical health of centre visitors. It’s also important for the building itself to have a connection to nature. Maggie’s Oxford was built in a nature reserve and sits raised from the ground like a treehouse, surrounded by a canopy of delicate branches and leaves. 

In Maggie’s: Architecture that Cares we hear from landscape and garden designers on their response to the Maggie’s design brief and how gardens can play an important role in health and wellbeing.

A different type of cancer care

Dame Laura Lee DBE, Chief Executive of 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 is delighted to be marking this meaningful moment in partnership with Maggie’s. Maggie’s offer extraordinary care every day in spaces designed to welcome us when we're at our most vulnerable and to help us heal. 

"V&A Dundee and Maggie’s are both on a mission to demonstrate that good design makes a fundamental difference through our lives.

“Maggie’s provides unique cancer care in special places that are locally and globally recognised for their caring architecture. Each is a unique sanctuary of indoor and outdoor spaces designed with hope and humanity.

"V&A Dundee is proud to share a city with Maggie’s Dundee, and we’re honoured that local centre visitors have contributed to this meaningful exhibition.

“Maggie’s’ achievements over the past 30 years are remarkable, supporting millions as they navigate cancer and demonstrating that good architecture and design helps us when we need it most and offers us hope.

I am very proud that this exhibition will share these design stories.

Meredith More, Senior Curator at V&A Dundee, said: “All the centre visitors we’ve spoken to in the process of curating this exhibition tell us that the inspirational architecture they encounter at Maggie’s has helped them in their cancer journeys. 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 creativity of architects and designers in response to an inspiring brief, but also through the vision of Maggie’s as dynamic architectural clients that trust in the power of design to transform people’s lives.”

V&A Dundee and Maggie's

The exhibition celebrates V&A Dundee’s close connection to Maggie’s Dundee. 

Opened in 2003 as Maggie’s first purpose-built centre, it was designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry and sits alongside Ninewells Hospital.

V&A Dundee has worked with a focus group of centre visitors from Maggie’s in Dundee to give them a voice in the exhibition. 

Local artist Erin McGrath has created a short comic inspired by their conversations, reflecting their personal stories and shared experiences, which will be displayed in the exhibition.

Maggie’s and V&A Dundee are both supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, whose contributions have enabled both organisations to deliver vital services and enriching experiences for the community.

Hospitals were once conceived as places to heal the soul as well as the body. 

By looking back to inspirational healthcare buildings of the past, the exhibition seeks to situate Maggie’s in a broader social and historical context. 

A group of architects and writers connected to Maggie’s have nominated surprising examples of historical architecture that shares the Maggie’s ethos. 

In their own words, they explain how caring buildings as diverse as Ancient Greek sanctuaries, 19th-century Nightingale wards and 20th-century sanatoria might inspire a future architecture of health that is more human than machine.

Celebrating Maggie's design brief

Maggie’s: Architecture That Cares celebrates the Maggie’s design brief as a pioneering model for the transformative power of people-centred design and asks how these approaches could be more widely applied across all healthcare spaces.

The exhibition is free and on show at V&A Dundee in the Michelin Design Gallery from 6 March until 1 November 2026.

Redefining cancer care

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 we offer. 

Here for 30 years, here for good

Everyone with cancer deserves a place like Maggie’s. We want to continue to grow so that we can support everyone impacted by cancer in the UK.

It costs nothing to come into one of our centres - but it takes your kind donations to keep us free of charge for everyone living with cancer and their family and friends.

Become a Friend of Maggie's by donating, fundraising for us or getting involved, and help Maggie’s to be here today, tomorrow, and always.

*visits refers to support facilitated by our programme staff and includes face to face; on the phone and online.

Photo credit: Grant Anderson