The incorporation of living greenery into architecture is a very welcome trend, provided it’s done in a way that can be realistically maintained. In Leeds, England, a new project by Thomas Heatherwick Studio offers a new take on the theme, envisioning a health center as a series of three monumental planters.

Drop-in cancer care facilities called “Maggie’s Centres” after their late founder, Margaret Keswick Jencks, are known for their unique and iconic architecture, often carried out by some of the biggest names in the business.
Jencks spent the last two years between her cancer diagnosis and her death imagining private, light-filled spaces that would cultivate a sense of hope. In 1996, Jencks and her architectural historian husband Charles Jencks opened the first center in Edinburgh. Since then, nearly 20 more have popped up as standalone structures on hospital grounds throughout the UK and in Hong Kong, designed by Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, and others.
Heatherwick’s interpretation adds to the bouquet of beautiful, restorative Maggie’s Centre outposts celebrating Maggie’s vision for an emphasis on the joy of living, even in the face of death.
“The center needed to be a welcoming place for visitors that would offer a respite from the clinical environment of the hospital,” says the firm. “It would include a library, counseling rooms, and informal seating areas. Set in the midst of medical buildings, the site was one...