By Francesca Mutch, Interior Designer, Corstorphine & Wright 

Putting the kettle on isn't just about making tea; it's about enabling conversations and creating a casual space for ideas to flow, friendships to blossom, and collaboration to thrive. This week’s architect stakeholder session for the new Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease at Seacroft saw those involved spending a considerable amount of time discussing the importance of kettle conversations.

The focus this week, in this session attended by staff and patients, was on design and feel of both the interior and exterior of the centre. Francesca is an interior designer, part of the Corstorphine & Wright team and Andrew attended from Re-Form landscapes. Both talked through their ideas that in turn sparked discussions around what could and would work in the new setting.

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Read More: Rob Burrow Centre for MND Blog: Together - the fundraising journey so far

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Francesca said, “It’s important to create a space that works for everyone’s needs and somewhere that feels comfortable and homely. The aim is to reduce anxiety in what can be a stressful situation. We also want to provide a range of seating areas that can either encourage conversation or provide privacy depending on the user requirements.” 

Landscape gardener Andrew spoke about how the external space can complement what’s happening in the building and the importance of framing a building through its gardens and planting. The surrounding area is approximately 30 metres by 30 metres, and will hopefully feature a circular path to move around and several seating areas.

Patient Ian Flatt contributed some great insight, “There has been a massive shift in dynamics over the past 12 months in that we’ve been encouraged by the specialist nursing team to get out more and to do more. Through doing that, and through the fundraising and awareness raising challenges many of us have taken part in with Rob Burrow and for the centre, we don’t just come to clinic now to have our routine check-ups, we come to see each other, it’s a social event and this has totally transformed our clinic sessions.”

One of the main visions of the new MND Centre is to create a space for the MND community to come together to support one another, and this will remain at the heart of what it does. The full designs will be submitted for planning permission in January.

 

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