“Maggie’s Centers give people with cancer, their families and friends somewhere to turn to at an extremely difficult moment in their lives. Always close to a major cancer hospital, they are informal “domestic” buildings where people can draw on practical, emotional and social support when they need it, without the need for a referral or an appointment. They are calm, friendly places whose object is to help ordinary people who have cancer find the hope, determination and resources they need to cope with one of the toughest challenges any of us is likely to have to face.”

Studio Calm proposed a new Maggie’s Center at the University of Tennessee Cancer Institute. Taking advantage of the underutilized parking area around the Institute’s insulated radiology vault, the Center stair-steps its way from street level onto a rooftop garden on the sun-soaked roof of the vault. Considerations of context; climate; circulation rhythms; and cognitive interpretations of sensory stimuli create a personal, homey haven in the midst of a busy clinical campus.