Heatherwick Studio is truly honoured that Time Out has included our Maggie’s Yorkshire cancer care centre in Leeds as one of the 24 most beautiful buildings in the world.

This is a project that means a lot to the studio. Our aim was to build a home for people affected by cancer that would be soulful and welcoming, unlike other typical clinical environments.

Describing the building, Time Out said: “Hospitals tend to be uncomfortable places characterised by too-bright strip lighting and unnervingly squeaky surfaces, but not at this Maggie’s Centre. The charity has striven to build personal environments to support cancer sufferers and their families, and this space is comforting and stunning.

“Enormous, mushroom-shaped forms grow from the floors to form the tiered roofs, and the stems are deep enough to contain loos and lifts. The space is decorated with mostly natural materials – think cork-topped tables, resin floors and cascading potted plants.”

The building is in exceptionally good company on Time Out’s rundown (which includes one of our founder Thomas Heatherwick’s favourite ever buildings, Sagrada Familia in Barcelona). It was named 19th on the list and is the only UK inclusion.

Find out more about this project here and learn about the truly important work that that Maggie’s do via their website.