M. Apothecary is a space that re-imagines the design language of care and proposes upstream health solutions to support the at-times frail care system.

Current healthcare facilities are essential and highly valuable, but can be intimidating places we need to visit if ill, rather than places we want to go for maintaining wellness. These centres also often break under the great weight of chronic illness that is endemic in the UK and much of the western world. Rather than treating symptoms, this project proposes an operation and centre for learning that can help the multi-generational community of Woolwich maintain wellness and prolong health-span with the power of functional mushrooms.

As an ancient tool as well as the basis for many modern medicines, funghi— such as Reishi, Lion’s Mane, Chaga and Tremella to name a few–possess extraordinary benefits that extend to every aspect of daily life for people of all ages—from sleep quality and daily stress to Alzheimer’s and ADHD. In addition to being a highly sustainable urban crop, the proposed local, direct-to-consumer growing operations in Woolwich can help make these products accessible.

As a former industrial complex with much of the factory architecture still intact, The former Siemens Factory in Woolwich is a blank canvas for a contemporary, forward-thinking production. Its cold, sometimes dark and vast space specifically are well suited for a low-energy urban mushroom farming operation.

As opposed to current care centres— a ‘design language for sickness’—M. Apothecary proposes a ‘design language for wellness.’ In contrast to cold and clinical, fluorescent waiting rooms and segmented plans of current care centres, the materiality of the space aims to instead be a warm, organic, open and permeable space for wandering and exploration.