Kathleen Kilgour Centre, Tauranga

Project details

Completed in late 2014, the Kathleen Kilgour Centre is a three-storey building with a total area of 3,000m2 and an overall site area of a compact 1,000m2. The $34m radiotherapy treatment facility is expected to provide annually for 500-600 patients with local cancer-treatment options. The building needed to be intuitive in arrangement and holistic in experience. The emphasis has been on creating a patient-centered facility that is easy to access and navigate, psychologically calm and welcoming.

At ground level are the treatment areas, including three radiotherapy ‘bunkers’ with 1200mm-thick protective concrete walls and slab over. The second level of the building contains patient car parking providing ease of access to the treatment rooms and consultation suites. The client requested that the building be substantially powered from a renewable energy source therefore a large solar array was incorporated into the design. In form, the building is rectangular with a distinctive ‘sawtooth’ roofline which allows natural light to penetrate into the deep floor plan of level three.

At the southern end is an easily discernible translucent ‘box’, which at night becomes a glowing beacon for the centre. It is clad with double-glazed fritted panels, and punctuated with two large windows that align landscape views with key moments in the interior.

Buildings for healthcare are amongst the most urgent, rewarding and technically challenging design tasks for an architect. Medical environments can often be intimidating and unsettling for patients. When designing this facility, we gave great consideration to the technical aspects of the project, but utmost in our minds was the introduction of measures that might improve the experience for those that use it.

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