Maggie's Culture Crawl

At 7.30pm on Friday 21st September an enthusiastic team from Cullinan Studio (plus friends) set off from Victoria Embankment Gardens on the Maggie's Culture Crawl. 15 miles and 6 and a half hours later, they were resting their weary feet at the top of 30 St Mary Axe (The Gherkin) - although some of us arrived there a bit later.

The team were exhausted, aching and not looking forward to the journey home at two in the morning, but were happy in the knowledge the walk was done and that they had helped make a difference for those suffering from, or affected by cancer. Thank you to all who sponsored the team who have raised £1,044 so far. You can still sponsor us at: http://www.justgiving.com/CullinanStudio

Some of the team take a break inside the Roca Gallery at Imperial Wharf 

A sign/sigh of relief knowing there is only one more mile to go

Highlights of the walk included a spin on the London Eye;

the Durbar Court in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where a refreshing cup of tea and biscuits was served up by Fortnum and Mason;

Maggie's West London, which is always a welcome stop on the Maggie's night hikes;

a wonderful array of biscuits at the Royal Geographical Society;

the 'apple trees' en route were a welcome treat;

and the spectacular view from the top of The Gherkin...

...some of us got there a little later than others.

Team members: Amy, Andrew, Ashley, Helen, John, Laith, Lucy, Roddy, Sarah and Sanaa.

Having taken part in the event previously, we were proud to be taking part for a fourth time, especially in celebration of Maggie's Newcastle which we completed in May this year.

Maggie's Opening

Maggie’s Newcastle opened on 16^th May 2013 on a wonderful sunny day which saw the building fully inhabited for the first time. The kitchen was packed to the concrete down stand beams, with project architect, project manager and lighting designer perched on the staircase and others spilling into the courtyard  for a view  of the speakers Charles Jencks, Sarah Brown,  Ted Cullinan and Lorna Moran and to listen to bassist Graeme Danby’s wooing of the crowd.

Working with Maggie’s to create the Maggie’s Newcastle has been a tremendous experience and a joy to work with such a committed client. In the month since the opening an unprecedented 1000 people have visited the centre, including a larger proportion of men than at other centres which was one of the key aspirations for this scheme.

The centre sits within a continuum of buildings by our office. The radical transformation of the hospital grounds into a tranquil courtyard exemplifies our interest in place making and the celebration of living close to nature. The centre is sited and arranged to maximise the sun’s winter heating potential, to collect and store its energy and regulate temperature with the mass of exposed concrete. The landscaped mounds provide shelter to the north and quietly delineate the warm courtyard to the south.

Most importantly, our buildings blossom through use and it was wonderful to see the varied spaces of Maggie’s Newcastle being activated for the first time.

 

Ted's Talk at the RIBA North East

On Thursday night Ted Cullinan gave a talk to the RIBA North East on his design for the new Maggie’s Centre in Newcastle. He used his trademark style of drawing as he talked to demonstrate ideas and referenced previous projects to explain the scheme.

Ted started by looking at the landscape work of Maggie Keswick Jencks herself before describing the location and approach to the Maggie’s Centre at the Freeman Hospital, drawing in reference to the settings of Fountains Abbey Visitor Centre and Archaeolink.

Fountains Abbey Visitor Centre

Archaeolink Visitor Centre

He then drew the layout in greater detail, emphasising the key connection between the building and its surrounding courtyard landscape and roof garden. Ted showed how this had been achieved at the John Hope Gateway at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. The Law House, Ready Mixed Concrete offices roof garden, Centre for Mathematical Sciences and his own house in Camden Mews were shown to demonstrate how accessible roof gardens can be used.

John Hope Gateway, RBGE

The Law House

Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge

RMC HQ

Camden Mews

The Maggie’s Centre is due on site in the next few months. We would like to say thanks to the RIBA NE Young Persons Forum for organising the event and for their fundraising towards the Maggie’s Centre.

Model of the North East Maggie's Centre

Lambeth Community Care Centre Open Day

On Saturday 21st May a group from the office went to the Lambeth Community Care Centre annual garden open day, to see the building in action and to enjoy some tea and cake. It was great to see how this innovative centre has been used and the garden has matured, over 25 years on from when it was first opened.

Robin Nicholson, senior partner at Cullinans and the project architect of the Care Centre, took us on a tour of the building and its extensive gardens, pointing out his mature fig tree, laden with fruit, and stories behind many of the plants. The local community got a warm welcome from staff and volunteers and from the gardener Millie who was there encouraging everyone to buy plants to help fund the next year’s work in the garden.

For the opening by Charles and Diana on a cold winter afternoon in 1985, Ted took the newly wed Di around the ground floor to meet the patients and those involved in making the Centre happen. Meanwhile Robin introduced Charles to the design and construction teams in the upper conservatory including the foremen plumber and electrician, while their bosses were out in the rather chilly garden.  All the guests were invited to bring bulbs to plant in the garden.

The wonderful first senior nurse Sheila Woodward, now retired but devoted to the Centre, showed us around the 1st floor ward areas, pointing out various design features that made an impact in the lives of the patients. For example, Sheila told us how the clerestory windows bathed the wards in the dawn light, and helped patients connect with passing of time each day. Apparently dawn is one of the most common times for people to pass away, at the most peaceful time of the day.

The wards look out over the verdant garden, allowing patients to enjoy the greenery and wildlife from their beds. A terrace runs along the ward where patients can sit and double doors enable beds to be wheeled out onto the terrace from the wards if a patient wants to be outside.

Sheila had had the unenviable task of taking over the building from a passionately determined group of doctors, therapists, administrators and architects who had lived and breathed the design for 5 years and it had taken the founders 5 years before that to get the money.  The plan had been to make a model place where patients would be looked after by the Centre’s nurses and therapists and visited by their GP as though they were in their own home.  The story of the early years is beautifully recorded by Gillian Wilce in ‘A Place Like Home’.

After huge initial success, Sheila moved on and inevitably there were some changes but the Tomlinson report in 1992 thrust the Lambeth CCC right back on the agenda as a model for the future of Community healthcare in London.

The centre is based around an innovative approach to patient care, where patients have an active role in their own care and the running of the centre. It was very interesting to see these principles in practice, innovative in its time and still very much relevant to current healthcare projects such as our current Maggie’s Cancer care centre project in Newcastle, where visitors are encouraged to feel ownership of the building and enabled to help themselves to cups of tea and participate in the gardening.

North East Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre

A special issue of the Architects Journal was devoted to the building 16th Oct 1985.

Cullinan's Solar Strollers

Edward Cullinan Architects have raised £3,307.50 (so far) for Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres.

A team of 12 from Cullinans walked 20 miles around London in the annual Maggie's Night Hike and Johnny Winter cycled 100 miles to raise money for the charity.

This year we are designing the Maggie's Centre North East in Newcastle. Taking part in the Night Hike and cycling over the Southern Downs enabled us to make another contribution to this worthy cause.

The Night Hike Team's name, Cullinan's Solar Strollers, was inspired by the solar passive design for the Newcastle Maggie's Centre, which also inspired the glow-in-the-dark sunglasses worn on the night.

Stocking up on energy with a good meal at the Barbican before we start.

Colin, Lara and Mark (Melissa)

The Cullinan Solar Stroller's with our Maggie's North East client, Marcia - bottom left.

The team, ready to go.

Quick warm up.

Benedict Cumberbatch (middle), who set the hikers on their way, dons the spare glasses

The first stop; Channel 4 - still looking quite fresh

Well earned break just over half-way (10.3 miles) at the London Maggie's Centre.

Nearing the end at the Serpentine Pavilion.

Maggie's lanterns at the Horse Guards.

The end, back at the Guildhall... not looking quite as fresh at 4.30am... but we all made it.

Maggie's Night Hike

A team from Edward Cullinan Architects will be taking part in this years Maggie's Night Hike.

This 20 mile night walk around London takes place on 17 September and is in aid of Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres. Maggie's Centres aim to help people adjusting to living with a diagnosis of cancer so that they can get on with their lives. They provide relaxation and stress reduction techniques, guidance on finding the right information for anyone affected by cancer, and simply a welcoming environment to meet and share experiences over a cup of tea.

Having participated in 2008, we are looking forward to taking part again this year, particularly as we are designing the Maggie's Centre North East.

The team name, Cullinan's Solar Strollers, has been inspired by the sun image, shown in the section below, that Ted Cullinan drew to highlight the passive solar principles used in the design of the Maggie's Centre North East.

We are very grateful of any donations!

Section through the proposed Maggie's Centre North East: Pipes below the surrounding banks will provide ground source heating to the building and a south facing sloping roof over the library will have photovoltaic cells to make electricity.

Roof plan: A landscaped garden on the roof of the Centre will be furnished with a bowling green and fixed exercise equipment.

Ground floor plan: The Centre will have within it a dining/kitchen for meeting and preparing food in; a large shared room for activities such as yoga, classes and lectures; two smaller meeting rooms; two counselling rooms for three people; and a library with a fire in to sit by in peace.