St. Gemma's Hospice - Young People's Space

The building is a purpose-built facility for the Young People’s Service, who provide support for children and young people at the Hospice, and across the Leeds district, when someone in their family is seriously ill or has died. With the help of YPS staff, ArkleBoyce engaged with the service’s current users, children and young adults of a range of ages, through a series of workshops that helped drive the initial design thinking, and inform the nature of spaces that should be provided. The Young People’s Space is located within the beautiful gardens of the Hospice, surrounded by mature trees and planting. The form, function and materiality of the building have been carefully crafted and considered to allow the pavilion to sit harmoniously within the established context of the site. The building is arranged around an informal social space that opens out to the gardens to the South, with a more contemplative counseling room provided to the north. These programmatic elements were brought together under a unifying roof structure that represents shelter and protection, referencing the tree canopies found within the garden and the St Gemma’s logo. The Young Person’s Space has been designed to minimise both embodied carbon and in-use energy consumption. Embodied carbon was reduced through the extensive use of timber for both structure and cladding. Glulam columns and beams sit on prefabricated timber structural insulated panels, with the building clad entirely in larch. Energy consumption is minimised through high levels of thermal insulation and air tightness, solar shading, on-site renewable generation via rooftop photovoltaics, and an all-electric design ensuring that the building’s operational carbon is reduced. The building is naturally ventilated, while heating/cooling is provided via an air-source heat pump.