Tuesday 01 July 2025
Time Out includes the Maggie's centre in Leeds in its top 20, alongside the Taj Mahal and The Pyramids of Giza.
The only UK building to feature, Maggie's, Yorkshire is named the 8th most beautiful building in Europe and the 19th in the world.
In the Time Out article, travel writer, Liv Kelly, writes:
“Hospitals tend to be uncomfortable places, characterised by too-bright strip lighting and unnervingly squeaky surfaces.
“But not at this Maggie’s centre – the charity has striven to build personal environments to support cancer sufferers and their families, and this space is comforting and stunning.
She continues: “Enormous, mushroom-shaped forms grow from the floors to form the tiered roofs, and the stems are deep enough to contain loos and lifts. The space is decorated with mostly natural materials – think cork-topped tables, resin floors and cascading potted plants.”
Maggie’s, Yorkshire was built in 2019 and designed by Heatherwick Studio, known for the 2012 Olympic cauldron, the New Routemaster double-decker bus, and the redesign of Coal Drops Yard in London.
Founder of the studio Thomas Heatherwick said:
“Maggie's, Yorkshire was a very special project for me and my team, because we are convinced that there are kinder, more empathic ways to design places that can have powerful impacts on the way that we feel.
“This is particularly important in the design of healthcare environments, but is so frequently overlooked.”
Read more about the inspiration behind Maggie's, Yorkshire.
We would encourage anyone who is living with cancer, as well as their friends and family, to drop in to one of our centres.
Dame Laura Lee DBE, chief executive of Maggie’s, said:
“It is wonderful that Maggie’s, Yorkshire has been recognised as one of the most beautiful buildings in the world, highlighting the incredible work of our architects, as well as acknowledging the value of the expert support our centre staff offer to thousands of people with cancer every year.
“All of our 24 centres in the UK are carefully designed to be warm and welcoming places where people with cancer, and their friends and family, can receive support from staff, meet others going through a similar experience, or simply find a moment of a quiet when dealing with the fear and uncertainty a cancer diagnosis often brings.
“Those who visit our centres tell us time and time again that we pick them up when they are at rock bottom and help them find a way not just to survive, but to thrive.
Kevin McCloud with Dame Laura Lee DBE, Chief Executive of Maggie's
This isn't the first time that Maggie's, Yorkshire has been recognised for its beauty. In 2024, the centre featured in an episode of Grand Designs.
Presenter Kevin McCloud described the centre as ‘magical’ and ‘a special place where the therapeutic potential of nature is deployed in a truly unexpected way’.
He continued: “It's hard to tell where the realm of nature ends and the human one begins.”
Maggie's, Dundee, designed by Frank Gehry, opened in 2003
Ranking 6th on the list is Frank Gehry's Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. Gehry is also known for designing the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, as well as Maggie's, Dundee.
Gehry said: “I think people will want to come inside and spend time there, and I really hope that in some small way it might contribute to a sense of rejuvenated vigour for moving forward and living life.”
The buildings are ranked as follows:
Whatever kind of cancer, whatever stage you're at, Maggie's is here with you.
Our expert staff are here to listen to your concerns and find the help you need wherever you are – over the phone and online.
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