By Ken Worpole

The new edition of this acclaimed book comprehensively updates its timely advocacy of the need for good quality palliative care, today more necessary than ever. Rooted in the social history of the care of the elderly and terminally ill, Modern Hospice Design: The Architecture of Palliative and Social Care takes cognisance of the new conditions of social care in the 21st century, principally in the UK, Europe and North America. It does so with regard to the development of new building types, but also in response to new philosophies of palliative care and the status of the elderly and the dying. At its core is a public discussion of a philosophy of design for providing care for the elderly and the vulnerable, taking the importance of architectural aesthetics, the use of quality materials, the porousness of design to the wider world, and the integration of indoor and outdoor spaces as part of the overall care environment. In doing so it advocates care settings that, in the words of Maggie Jencks whose life and ideas inspired the Maggie’s Centres, ‘rise to the occasion’.