A public pavilion for the Maudsley Charity promoting awareness of mental health, with spaces for learning, meeting, exhibition and events connected by a grand staircase.
Maudsley Charity
Camberwell, London
1,550m2
“This precisely considered learning centre provides an elegant oasis of openness that links a south London psychiatric facility with its historic urban surroundings.”
Ellis Woodman, Building Design
“ORTUS is a resonant work – whispering, but muscular with it. It allows itself to be liberated by the fact that, once the technical requirements have been dealt with, the brief is pure: it is to make places for people to speak to each other, as they might once have done in a garden outside Athens, or on a hill in Palestine.”
Rowan Moore, Slow Burn City
“We wanted to prove to our clients that a few thoughtful, simple, repeated details and a careful choice of materials was all that was necessary. There was no need to try and add more.”
Miranda MacLaren, Architect
- Site is within Maudsley Hospital Campus on Denmark Hill, south London
- Stagger from three to four storeys across sloping site communicated externally via expressed floorplates
- Open stairwell creates circulation and informal auditorium space
- Public café at ground floor helps to destigmatise preconceptions of mental health
- Flexible venue, learning and exhibition spaces take advantage of digital technologies
- BREEAM Excellent rating, via passive environmental strategy
- Complex stakeholder group including users, Kings College Hospital, the Institute of Psychiatry and community groups
- Rectilinear external grid of precast concrete fins frames contrasting infill materials of brick and glass
- Brick blended from London clay colour at ground level through to grey sky shade higher up
Client: Maudsley Charity
Client Representative: Articulate
Structural Engineer: Elliott Wood
Environmental Engineer: Skelly & Couch
BREEAM: MLM
