A high profile symposium featuring some of the top names in architecture will take place at the Visual Research Centre celebrating the opening of the Dundee Maggie's Centre.
World renowned architect Frank Gehry will speak at the symposium 'Breathing Space' on 26 September with Professor Charles Jencks, husband of the deceased Maggie Keswick Jencks, Zaha Hadid, architect of the Kirkcaldy Maggie Centre Richard Murphy, architect the Edinburgh Maggie Centre and Oncologist Professor Alastair Munro.
They will examine the relationship between architecture and health working towards an aesthetic approach in caring for cancer sufferers.
Gehry and Hadid will talk about their background research on cancer care and the specific needs of clients and explain the influence of the location on their design. They will address their aesthetic response to the project looking at how form, parti, structure, texture and elevations inform an aesthetic of health care. They will talk about the role of compassion in the design process and how they managed to cater for individual wellbeing in the centre as well as human and group interaction.
Professor Charles Jencks will ask whether self-help and architecture can make a difference. He will address the links between mental attitude and positive outcomes in terms of patient response to treatments and if the aesthetic environment and atmosphere in a building can underpin these psychological factors.
Organiser of the symposium Jane Cumberlidgesaid: "The Visual Research Centre is delighted to host such a world class collection of speakers. The VRC is concerned with practice based visual research and to have such outstanding examples of this to draw on for the symposium is wonderful. Maggie's Centres make a qualitative difference to peoples' lives and at the heart of their philosophy is the use of empathetic design to promote well-being."
Frank Gehry will receive an honorary degree from the University of Dundeethe same day in the Bonar Hall at 11am.
The symposium will take place on Friday 26 September 2003 at the Visual Research Centre, Dundee Contemporary Arts. Tickets are available from the Visual Research Centre on 01382 348060.
For further information please telephone Jane Cumberlidge on 01382 348060
By Jenny Marra, Head of Press 01382 344910 j.m.marra@dundee.ac.uk