The Maggie's centre won for its eye-catching design

The �25,000 Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) Andrew Doolan Award was made to Glasgow design firm Page and Park.

Its design for Scotland's fourth Maggie Centre beat nine other nominations to win the best building in Scotland.

The jury said the firm had tackled a delicate brief with "disarming wit and comforting good humour".

Professor Simon Unwin, of Dundee University School of Architecture, was on the jury.

He said: "With a complex tangle of intertwining curves and using a palette of warm and pliable materials, the interior meets uncertainty with companionship and reassurance.

"Cosy sitting places huddle by hearths amongst the irregular geometry. A veranda in the sun looks out into a landscape of grass mounds ascended by long spiral pathways.

"This is a 'home' distorted by worry. It is also a refuge where cancer sufferers can find support and maybe come to terms with their disease."

Dramatic design

The centre is one of four in Scotland, dedicated to Maggie Keswick Jencks, who believed that good design could influence good health.

Since her death 11 years ago, many renowned architects have taken up the challenge, from Frank Gehry in Dundee to Zaha Hadid in Kirkcaldy.

The rooms are designed to make patients feel comfortable

The Inverness centre's distinctive design, based on the division of healthy cells in the body, earned a national award in September.

It took the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors in Scotland (RICS) award for community benefit recognising the dramatic design of the building.

Previous winners of the Andrew Doolan award are Dance Base in Edinburgh; An Turas, Tiree; St Aloysius College and the Scottish Parliament.

The award was renamed the RIAS Andrew Doolan Award for Architecture in 2004 in memory of its late founder and patron, architect Andrew Doolan.