The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing

PROJECT NARRATIVE

The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing

 The space originally occupied by the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing was tight, dark and uninspiring. Despite these conditions, the center was able to provide meaningful support services to individuals living with cancer.

With its relocation to the 13,000 sf vacant top floor of the historic Knapp Shoe Building the Dempsey Center could move beyond its inadequate facilities.  More importantly, the design team encouraged the center’s staff to use the design process as an opportunity to explore and clarify its mission and values, this reflection greatly informing the final design of the center’s new home.

Ironically, the greatest potential and the greatest challenge of the project were the same: the gritty industrial feeling of the new space contrasting with the sensitive nature of assisting individuals living with cancer.

It became evident that the Dempsey Center aspired to express hope, healing and realistic optimism in the new facility. It also became clear that the two outstanding physical features of the new space – the exposed rich wood of the ceiling and beams and the wealth of natural light and dramatic panoramic day and nighttime views provided by the large windows – could be at the heart of expressing this sense of hope and healing.

A design goal emerged: to convey a sense of “openness” and connection to the natural world through the use of views, natural color scheme, natural materials, and repeating thematic elements – nurturing curving wall forms and repeated motifs of alternating wood and metal elements in the detailing of “feature points” (reception desk, demonstration kitchen island, healing garden planters). The wood for these elements was reclaimed donated flooring from the nearby historic Bates Mill, thus honoring the client’s desire for the use of sustainable materials.

The strong forms expressed by the existing brick and framing of the building and the painted black metal of the new design features, balanced by the soft shapes and natural materials, colors and light, became a metaphor for the blend of strength and vulnerability that is at the core of the Dempsey Center’s mission.

A final key to the success of the project was the establishment of design “ownership” among all parties, with participation from everyone from the director of the center to the contractor’s job superintendent. Everyone involved was educated regarding the design goals and felt empowered to make suggestions to clarify these ideas through all phases of the project.