#PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE PROJECTS
Dental Praxis
The project of DENTALPRAXIS dental clinic was devised on an open construction field in a neat rectangular urban tissue placed in a residential area close to the city suburbs.
The idea of the project came along with setting the location – a “carious” field – in the urban tissue mentioned above, hence having a chamfered side. The idea was to functionally reconfigure this lot, starting from requirements set by the dental medical functions. As a rule, the dental act specializes in characteristic and distinctive cases, each activity focusing on an individual at a time. Similarly, the site problems designed the customary solution: the typology of openings, the imbedment of the new structure, the specific operations suffered by the original block, the chamfered pullback of the ground floor mirroring the site shape and the procedures carried out to the upper floor. Hence, a new perspective was opened from the building towards the main street which is perpendicular to the façade containing the access point. At the same time, the main façade overlooks south. We decided on the positioning of the interior functions based on this parameter, thus placing the waiting room and dental laboratory in the sunny area.
The building is a single block containing a two-level public central area, with zenithal lighting. The chromatics of the building is simple, made up of alternating black and white sufaces – the white built mass and the black horizontal openings and edges.
The entrance in the building is marked by the main wall pullback in front of the door. Concealed in the floor, wall and ceiling, a wooden frame is created enclosing the opening hence created. The main access point fills up the space, merging chromatically the wooden planes of the ceiling and floor. The interior design is well-lit, light-coloured to reflect natural light. The reception area, which delineates the main surface of the ground floor and hides the areas designated to radiology, sterilization, technical room and servers, is finished with a semiglossy coat which also cloaks the doors to these rooms.
Functionally, the building is structured on different levels. The ground floor accommodates the public spaces, the central access lobby which directs interior circulation and public access to dental laboratories and to the radiology room. The waiting room is separated through the reception area from the main lobby which leads to the laboratories. The space opens up on two levels, lit in the staircase area through a skylight. The upper floor rooms contain the dental technique laboratory, offices, changing rooms and a small conference room which are assigned for the medical board and collaborators.