Maggie’s Centre, Oxford

Site visit has been carried out to study the spatial experience of the place and how colour used in the Maggie’s give an impact to the users. A place to give comfort to emotional wellbeing, a warm colour scheme is used. According to a caretaker of the place, the ambient of the centre is basically to make people who visit the Centre and feels like home. So, the choices of colour plays an important role in creating a cozy atmosphere. Photographs were taken to examine the use of colour in every corner of the Maggie’s Centre.

Through this site visit, I realised that how colour is so powerful to affect the overall experience in the centre. From the selection of material and furniture to the surrounding context, they are all well blend in to make the whole centre feels like a home instead of an ordinary community centre. The centre uses warm colours such as yellow, orange and brown which appear to advance toward the eye, making objects in those colours seem nearer than they actually are. It is important to consider how colour affect the mood of users to make architecture serve their purpose. For instance, the kindergarten is a place for children to play and learn at the same time, colour used should be able to make them feel fun to play and focused when learning.

Figure 3.18 Elevation Sketch Wilkinson Eyre Architects. (2014) Maggie’s Oxford/ Wilkinson Eyre Architects. https:// www.archdaily.com/558757/ maggie-s-oxford-wilkinson-eyrearchitects (Accessed: 30 April 2020)

Figure 3.20 Sitting area; for people to gather and wait

Figure 3.21 Exterior; before approaching the entrance of the building

Figure 3.22 Sitting /exterior deck; sitting views out into the trees

Figure 3.23 Installation; decoration on the library wall

Paimio Sanatorium // Alvar Aalto

Year of completion: 1932

Aalto seized the possible of colours to play a “medical role” in the healing progression. With this in mind, he applied them deliberately throughout the building.

Built for the treatment of tuberculosis in southwest Finland, every detail of Paimio sanatorium was designed in response to a need - with the goal of creating a space that would be a comprehensive place of healing. The Paimio sanatorium features an array of colours, and Alvar Aalto has said to be very particular about the shades.

“The walls are light and the ceilings darker. This makes the general tone more peaceful from the perspective of lyingdown patient. The general lighting point of the room is above the patient’s head at the interface of the wall and ceiling, which means that it is outside the angle of vision of a lying-down patient.” (Aalto, 1932)

Another precedent that best convey on how colour affects mood. Yellow rubber flooring used in the stairwell adds the feeling of brightness and sunlight. Every colour used were planned accordingly by using the ceiling plan.

Figure 3.24 Yellow floor staircase

Figure 3.25 Ceiling with colour Kesäläinen, S. (2018) Alvar Aalto and the colors of the Paimio Sanatorium. https://www.finnishdesignshop.com/ design-stories/architecture/alvar-aalto-and-the-colors-ofthe-paimio-sanatorium (Accessed: 24 November 2019)