Page 3 - Maggie's Yorkshire YP Special Report

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 28 2017 YORKSHIRE POST
A SPECIAL FEATURE FROM THE YORKSHIRE POST IN SUPPORT OF MAGGIE’S
THE BUILDING
Care and support is at the heart of every Maggie’s Centre, but the architecture and design is also vital which is why Maggie’s Centres are all designed by the country’s top architects. We talk to the women behind the breathtaking design which will become
Maggie’s Yorkshire.
The stunning design of the Maggie’s centre, Yorkshire, with layers of woodland gardens to create a welcoming space. PICTURE: MAGGIE’S.
A place to comfort and inspire
Three vessels holding floating gardens are how architect Rebeca Ramos describes her stunning design which will become Maggie’s Centre, Yorkshire.
This month planning permission was granted for what Rebeca hopes will become a landmark building in the landscape of Leeds. But above all she wants it to be a place that has its visitors, the 30,000 people a year from Yorkshire affected by cancer, at its core.
“I got the chance to speak to cancer patients, as well as hospital staff and of course the amazing team at Maggie’s and tried to incorporate as much of what they said into the design,” says Rebeca of internationally renowned architects at London-based the Heatherwick Studio.
Upon visiting the site, opposite the Bexley wing at St James’s Hospital in Leeds, Rebeca saw a space dominated by clinical hospital buildings and wondered, could it be possible to make a whole building out of a garden?
The futuristic vision of Heatherwick has created something positive and dream worthy. Using containers, each holding a
piece of garden, the design built itself upon levels. Combining privacy with community, a collection of garden plots brought planting into and over the building, with curved structures almost symbolising pillars up
into the sky.
“Virtually everyone at the
studio has been touched by cancer in one way or another and so to get this project, my first at Heatherwicks, was a huge honour, but also a huge responsibility,” says Rebeca, who was just 19 when she created her first project in her homeland Venezuela.
“The brief was to create a
‘home’ for a diverse range of
people who all have one thing in
common – cancer. For cancer
patients and their families and
friends, the Maggie’s Centre, Yorkshire, will be a gateway to the hospital and somewhere to help them feel calm and relaxed.”
The concept is to create a house people feel
welcome to enter. The different levels and heights will make the centre very visually interesting.
Rebeca said it had been important to consider the psychological state of the ‘walk of acceptance’ when
someone may have just been given a cancer diagnosis and
has been encouraged to visit
the county’s Maggie’s Centre
for support. And how they then have to grasp the courage to walk into a building with strangers in the ‘most fragile position they have ever been in, through their life’. Visitors can see where to go without feeling intimidated or exposed.
The centre will have a kitchen, and the well known Maggie’s Kitchen Table where people
come together to talk, enjoy a cup of tea, and support each other.
“Some people will want a quiet space so the centre will also include ‘mindful’ areas
and quiet spaces,” says Rebeca. “There will be counselling rooms for one to one conversations and support, and an exercise room where people can come together in groups.”
“From every window you will see garden,” says Rebeca. There will also be a mezzanine garden where visitors can sit and enjoy the pavilion.
The plan for the gardens is to bring native woodland into the centre of the hospital. This will be designed to be buoyant and green, not neat and precise.
For Rebeca the two years perfecting this world-class facility have been a labour of love, and it doesn’t end with the drawing board.
“We will be working very closely with the team doing the construction to make sure our vision becomes comes a reality,” says Rebeca.
“My family are in public service such as education so it was important that I created an offering which gives something back and working on places where the public go and working with charities like Maggie’s is amazing.”
YOUR SUPPORT
Could your company
or organisation join the growing list of Corporate Partners?
Maggie’s inaugural partners are First Direct, DLA Piper and Sky.
Your organisation can make a difference in helping to sustain the new Maggie’s Centre through long-term employee fund-raising and corporate donations, and also importantly deliver support services to any of your employees who are affected
by cancer. Get in touch if your company wants to join us in this final critical stage of fund- raising.
Join as an individual Maggie’s Partner or Friend
Should you prefer to make a personal donation then you can join a growing group of supporters across Yorkshire as an individual partner or friend of Maggie’s.
Have you got an idea for raising funds for Maggie’s?
You can also join the growing numbers of people who have taken on a vast range of fund-raising activities like the Great North Run, Coast to Coast walk, dress down days, bake offs and taking part in the Maggie’s Kitchen Table Day.
This Friday, September 29, Maggie’s night time exploration walk around Leeds landmarks #culturecrawl takes place.
AMBASSADORS
Maggie’s is seeking out people with significant public profiles to become ambassadors for the charity.
They want representatives from the arts, sport, business, education and public service willing to publicly endorse the Maggie’s Yorkshire campaign as Maggie’s Yorkshire Ambassadors.
One of the first ambassadors is Sir Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire,
whose first wife Helen died of cancer.
“This is a cause very close to my heart as I know first- hand how invaluable this kind of support is to those affected by cancer and their families, at what is a very difficult time in their lives,” says Sir Gary.
“The work Maggie’s does is truly inspirational and I’m extremely proud to be part of such a worthwhile project which I know will make such a difference.”
HOWYOUCANHELP
BY PHONE: 07557 970842
BY EMAIL: yorkshirefundraising@maggiescentres.org TEXT: either MYEP99 £5 or MYEP99 £10 to 70070
ONLINE:www.justgiving.com/campaigns/ charity/maggies/yorkshire
www.maggiescentres.org/yorkshire
BYPOST: Sendachequewiththereference
A Million for Maggie’s made payable to Maggie’s Centres and post to: c/o Martin Jenkins, The Yorkshire Post, No.1 Leeds, 26 Whitehall Road, Leeds LS12 1BE.