When architect Frank Gehry designed cancer support centre in Dundee

For many, the Maggie’s Centre in Dundee is a sanctuary, a calming place to go amid cancer treatment.

Inspired by traditional croft houses, two windows frame a front door with white walls and a low roof, bringing the vision to life.

But this is no ordinary building, its roof a zigzag of metal and a tall, rounded pillar evoking images of lighthouses.

For many, the Maggie’s Centre is indeed a beacon of hope. That was the vision founder Maggie Keswick Jencks had when she founded the charity, following her own experience of sitting in a windowless corridor after being told her cancer had returned.

The renowned architect's legacy will live on in Dundee — The renowned architect’s legacy will live on in Dundee STV News

Along with her husband Charles, the pair enlisted the help of friends in the world of architecture to create comforting spaces for cancer patients near existing NHS sites.

Maggie died before the first centre in Edinburgh opened in 1996, but her vision was carried on by her husband, and centres began popping up across the UK.

Seven years later, it was the turn of Dundee’s centre to open, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry.

The famous Guggenheim Museum in New York. Adobe Stock

Best known for creating the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao in Spain, Gehry also created the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Berlin’s DZ Bank Building and an expansion of Facebook’s Northern California headquarters at the insistence of the company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

But he became involved in designing the UK’s third Maggie’s Centre in Dundee following his friend Maggie’s death.

Opening in 2003, it remains to this day the only building in the UK to be designed by Gehry.

Frank Gehry designed the building, which opened in 2003 STV News

Speaking to STV News when the centre opened, Gehry said: “[I wanted it to] not be overwhelming to somebody, that they come in and feel comfortable, like an old shoe.

“You want the building to enhance and make the journey softer and sweeter. That’s what I tried to do.”

Acclaimed as one of the most influential architects of the last century, Gehry died last week at the age of 96.

While he may be best known for his large-scale designs, for Maggie’s, his influence in creating a calming space for those going through cancer in Dundee is a lasting legacy.

Maggie's says visitors believe the building is 'calming' — Maggie’s says visitors believe the building is ‘calming’ STV News

“This building of course is much smaller scale than the wonderful things that are in LA or Bilbao, but it just fits into our landscape so well,” explains Annie Long from Maggie’s Dundee.

“He based the building on a traditional Scottish croft house, with the windows either side of the door and the low roof and that was his inspiration for the building. Visitors to the centre are very much put at ease by the calm of the building.

“People comment all the time that they feel instantly more relaxed when they come through the doors, that a sense of calm comes over them. That link between wellbeing and environment is something that is very much at the core of what Maggie’s does.”

It had been hoped Gehry would help design an extension to the building. That may fall to another architect in the future, but for now Gehry’s legacy will live on in Dundee in his calming building for those going through the toughest of challenges.