Healing design
The London Cancer Hub
The client:
The London Cancer Hub is a new 280,000m2 life-science campus in the London Borough of Sutton.
The task:
Generate ideas and write articles for a variety of publications in order to raise the profile of the London Cancer Hub, a partnership between The Institute of Cancer Research and the London Borough of Sutton.
Kent Nordic was appointed to work with the LCH by ING Media.
The role:
Editorial consultancy
Content writing
Full publication at londonsociety.org.uk. Read a snippet:
Can design enhance the ability of scientists to make discoveries that will change the lives of millions?
The question looms over architects designing state-of-the-art life sciences campuses.
In a 2014 paper comparing the design attributes of iconic life sciences buildings such as the Salk Laboratory in San Diego and Singapore’s Biopolis Phase One, London School of Economics Professor Charis Thompson said their “layouts are literal interpretations of evolving ideas about how best to do science: who should have what kind of access to whom and to what, what activities should happen where, and what relations there should be between what goes on inside the building and its various publics.”
It’s a whole change of mindset, because you have to lift the spirits.”
- Scott Grady, Haptic Architects
These are ideas at the core of the new London Cancer Hub emerging in the London Borough of Sutton. The £1 billion life sciences regeneration will deliver 280,000 square meters of modern facilities amid acres of beautiful green space. The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust are investing in new facilities that will sit alongside small and medium-sized start-ups in what will become a vibrant network of 10,000 researchers, clinical staff, healthcare and support staff.
A development framework designed by London-based Haptic Architects will act as a guide as the London Cancer Hub project is built out in phases. The brief – to design a place that enhances The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR)’s ability to make the discoveries that defeat cancer – is ambitious enough to weigh on the mind of any architect.
“On the one hand you say, well there’s no way we can help them with that,” says Scott Grady, director at Haptic. “However, we can design spaces that make people happy – spaces with wellbeing at the forefront of all of our decision-making. It’s a whole change of mindset, because you have to lift the spirits.”
Read more at the London Society, an influential forum for debate on the future of London.