The Danish Cancer Center’s mission is to create a home-away-from-home for cancer patients in need of round-the-clock care. Given its humanistic aspirations, the Danish Cancer Center might be seen as the most ambitious of all the projects.
The Danish Cancer Center is located at the edge of the main hospital complex in Århus, Denmark. Our first task was to study the feasibility of whether to refurbish the existing brick building on the site or to construct a new building from scratch.
After studying the existing building in detail with the local structural engineer Frank Jensen, we decided to preserve the exterior of the brick building, and to create an entirely new structure within the envelope using a series of heavy timber members.
We worked closely with Henrik Kruse, the director of the facility, to translate his dream for the center into a realizable and affordable design.
At the heart of our intervention is a ‘living room’ where patients can relax and socialize. This space is lit from above by a new glazed ceiling supported by heavy timber construction.
The building’s lower level opens out onto a sunken garden that is also able to function as an amphitheater during the warmer summer months.
The Crown Princess of Denmark attended the building's official inauguration. She told me that the interior of the center reminded her of being in a tree house: ‘In Nordic countries, where the sky is grey and cold for most of the year, it’s so nice that the spaces here are filled with light and warmth.’
Although modest in its architectural expression, I think that the Danish Cancer Center building speaks to the heart of what constitutes 'relevant' design today. I hope the Center will become a beacon of hope as well as a place of repose for all those affected by cancer and the Århus community at large.
The projects in this section were designed and executed during my time at Gehry Partners LLP (the office). I am grateful to Mr. Gehry and the team at the office for their generosity and support over the years. All intellectual property rights of these projects continue to be owned by the office unless otherwise mentioned. The narrative texts on the projects are entirely personal, they do not represent the views or opinions of the office, its clients or any other third party or organization.