Virtual Building Tour – Alder Centre

Photo credit: Infinite 3D

The AIA UK Chapter’s Building Tours Series resumed in 2023 on 11 May with a virtual visit to the award-winning Alder Centre, part of the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital campus in Liverpool.  The Alder Centre was the winner of the 2022 AIA Design Excellence Award for a small project.  This virtual tour was an inspirational one based not only on the operational purpose of the building but also the lead architect’s deep personal connection to the project.

Paul Monaghan, Executive Director at Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM), the RIBA Stirling Prize winning architecture practice, led an engaging discussion of the project. The Alder Centre is a place of healing for bereaved parents and/or anyone affected by the death of a child. As a dedicated place for people to meet, talk, and access specialist counselling services, it is the home of a national child bereavement helpline and counselling services for hospital staff and possibly the only one of its kind in England. The tour provided a poignant moment for participants when we discovered that Paul had grown up on Alder Street. That he would later develop a building, celebrated as much for its design as for its purpose, which would have such a profound impact on the people it serves within his home community, was heartwarming.

In his tour remarks, Paul revealed that for AHMM’s submission they produced a short video which highlighted the key design elements of their proposal and set the video to the soundtrack of ‘You’ll Be In My Heart’ by Phil Collins. Furthermore, the Alder Centre design competition’s theme was based around 'The Secret Garden', as inspired by the Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel. Themes around loss and childhood run deep through both the novel and the song lyrics. Paul believed making the emotional connection between the Centre’s purpose through their design choices and their musical selections made all the difference in AHMM’s appointment and may have been the winning factor in securing the commission.

The design concept offers a series of intimate spaces that relate to individual counselling rooms, which have been specifically designed to maintain privacy for users, with access to “secret gardens.” Two larger garden spaces are linked with the more public, communal parts of the building. The simple plan provides views and access from all occupied spaces to private gardens, providing a contemplative environment for counselling to assist in the bereavement process.

Photo credit: AHMM

Although the buildings are based on simple forms, they are beautifully crafted and proportioned. A simple plan of a series of varying-sized spaces yields volumes of varying dimensions to accommodate diverse functions from a public kitchen and living quarters to private or family counselling. Each volume is capped by a pyramidal-pitched roof. Using the same angle results in height and volume variations due to the size of the footprint being covered. The pyramidal tops were further angled cut and positioned to capture natural light and assist with natural ventilation, helping create variations in the overall form.

Designed primarily with brick, glass and clay tiles, the combined simplicity of the materials and volumetric forms results in a stunning composition.  A similar attitude was adopted in the interiors.  Exposed brick, glass, and the internal expression of the pyramidal roofs, drenched by natural light from the angled skylights, defines each room.  The collective design of volume space and visuals, as well as the physical connections from each space to the series of “secret gardens,” creates a calming environment where individuals and families can manage their emotions.

The AIA UK Chapter will continue to host a combination of live and virtual buildings tours throughout the year, offering architects the opportunity to visit notable buildings that have particular design interests in the UK and abroad.

Written by Gregory Fonseca, AIA