KISS

THE OVAL SPIRALS-ONE OF THEM A BUILDING, TWO OF THEM LANDSCAPED MOUNDS-TOGETHER FORM THE LATEST "MAGGIE'S CENTRE", ONE OF A BURGEONING CHAIN OF SUPPORT CENTRES FOR PEOPLE AFFECTED BY CANCER. THE IDEA FOR THESE FRIENDLY, USEFUL, NON-CLINICAL PLACES CAME FROM THE EPONYMOUS MAGGIE KESWICK, JENCKS' WIFE, AS SHE HERSELF WAS FIGHTING CANCER IN THE 1990S. TEN YEARS AFTER SHE DIED, MAGGIE'S CENTRES ARE A PROVEN SUCCESS. EACH IS DIFFERENT AND SOME ARE EXTRAORDINARY. CHARLES JENCKS IS A VERY REARE BEAST INDEED, A PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL WHOSE PRIVATE LOSS HAS TURNED HIM INTO A PRODUCER OF FINE ARCHITECTURE FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD. A US-BASED AMERICAN INTELLECTUAL WHOSE TASTE FOR COSMOLOGICAL MUSING IS UNDERPINNED BY A WRY SELF-DEPRECTAION, HE HOB-NOBS WITH THE ARCHITECTS HE COMMISSIONS. ZAHA HADID IS DONG THE NEXT ONE, INFIFE, SHE, PLUS FRANK GEHRY, DANIEL LIBESKIND, ZAHA HADID AND RICHARD ROGERS ARE THE BIG NAMES JENCKS HAS SIGNED UP THROUGH THE MAGGIE'S ORGANISATION, WHICH IS NOW EXPANDING OUT OF SCOTLAND INTO LONDON, OXFORD, CHELTENHAM AND CAMBRIDGE. THE COMPLETION OF GEHRY'S CENTRE IN DUNDEE IN 2003-HIS FIRST BRITISH BUILDING-SUDDENLY PUT THE MAGGIE'S CONCEPT ON THE INTERNATIONAL MAPL HADID'S WILL BE HER FIRST BRITISH BUILDING. BUT THE GLOBAL NAMES ARE NOT THE WHOLE STORY. THE FIRST MAGGIE'S IN 1996 WAS A STABLE BUILDING CONVERTED BY EDINBURGH ARCHITECT RICHARD MURPHY. THIS LATEST ONE IN THE HIGHLANDS IS BY GLASGOW ARCHITECTS PAGE AND PARK, THEIR SECOND. YOU CAN JUST SEE THEM SWEATING BLOOD TO CUT IT WITH THE INTERNATIONAL ELITE. YOU DON'T OFTEN GET THE CHANCE TO DESIGN AN UPWARDLY-SPIRALLING BUILDING, A MINI-GUGGENHEIM. DAVID PAGE IS HAPPY TO ADMIT THAT JENCKS ALLOWED HIM INTO A WORLD OF LARGER POSSIBILITIES THAN USUAL. MOREOVER, THE TWO COLLABORATED. JENCKS, WHO HAS ESTABLISHED A REPUTATION AS A LAND ARTIST, DID THE LANDSCAPE HERE. THOSE FAMILIAR WITH HIS FAMOUS "GARDEN OF COSMIC SPECULATION", DESIGNED WITH MAGGIE AT PORTRACK HOUSE IN SCOTLAND, WILL RECOGNISE THE HAD AT WORK HERE: SYMBOLIC MOUNDS AND PATTERNS CUT INTO THE GRASS. IN THIS CASE THE METAPHOR BEING EMPLOYED IS OF THE DIVISION OF CELLS AND THE WAY THAT CELLS EXCHANGE INFORMATION WITH EACH OTHER. JENCKS ALSO HAD AN INFLUENCE ON THE DESIGN OF THE BUILDING ITSELF, WORKING WITH PAGE TO DEVELOP A PLACE WHERE ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPE ARE ALL PART OF THE SAME OVERALL COMPOSITION. THE LENTICULAR SHAPE OF THE BUILDING, ITS STEPPED GREEN-COPPER FLANKS,RELATE DIRECTLY TO JENCKS' HILLOCKS WITH THEIR PATHS LAZILY LOOPING UP TO CONTEMPLATIVE SEATS ON TOP. IT'S THE OPPOSITE OF GEHRY'S EFFORT AT DUNDEE. THAT ONE WAS ALL ABOUT MAXIMISING THE TREMENDOUS VIEW OUT OVER THE FIRTH OF TAY. THIS ONE IS SO HEMMED IN BY ROADS THAT THERE ARE NO VIEWS AT ALL TO SPEAK OF. SO THE PLACE BECOMES INTERNALISED, WITH IS ENCLOSED GARDENS AND SERIES OF INTRIGUING INTERNAL SPACES. SO THE JENCKSIAN HILLS ARE A BIT OF A PERVERSITY IN THAT THEY LIFT YOU OUT OF THIS ZONE OF TRANQUILITY INTO FULL VIEW OF THE CHAOTIC SURROUNDINGS. THIS MEANS THEY ARE MORE TO LOOK AT THAN CLIMB UP, A GLORIFIED SCREENING DEVICE. NOR IS THIS THE BUILDING'S ONLY CONTRADICTION. AN UPWARDLY-SPIRALLING SHAPE, WITH THE WALLS SLOPING OUTWARDS LIKE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S FAMOUS GUGGENHEIM IN MANHATTAN, MEANS THAT UPSTAIRS IS LOGICALLY MORE IMPORTANT THAN DOWNSTAIRS. ONCE YOU HAVE TAKEN IN THE VARIOUS INTERCONNECTING MEETING ANSITTING AREAS DOWNSTAIRS, PLUS THE BIG KITCHEN THAT IS AT THE CENTRE OF ALL MAGGIE'S CENTRES, YOU WANT TO CLIMB THE STAIRCASE WITH ITS FINE STAINLESS-STEEL BALUSTRADE, YOOUR GAZE LED BY THE TIMBER-LINED WALLS CURVING UP AND AWAY.