BBC Radio 4

Susan Marling asks - why are architects so interested in 'A  House for the End of Life'? Significantly, the Stirling Prize for Architecture 2009 was won by Richard Rogers for his Maggie Centre in west London. It's a hospice, of course. Each decade throws up an architectural obsession - the pre-occupation with building galleries and museum and private houses in the 80s and 90s has given way to deep interest in a new building type - the hospice. There are already five Maggie's Centres in Scotland, including those designed by Frank Gehry (Dundee) and Zaha Hadid (Fife).Others, beautiful new buildings, abound in different parts of England and Wales - TP Bennett in Clapham, Jane Darbyshire in Newcastle and Leeds, Mark Bentley in Chelmsford. Susan looks at how the hospice movement has been revolutionised by the interest architects have taken in it recently and visits the exceptional buildings that are changing the way we think about palliative care.