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Architects: Raúl Sánchez
- Area: 861 ft²
- Year: 2019
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Photographs:José Hevia
Text description provided by the architects. Impress's first dental clinic in Spain is located in a small space in the center of Barcelona, comprehending access on the ground floor, mezzanine and basement.
The concept of Impress dental clinic is aimed at a young audience, which has grown with new technologies, since its offer is based on online treatments that reduce face-to-face visits. From the first moment Impress looked for a fresh design, which represented the brand and its values, which moved away from the topics of a dental clinic (white colors, aseptic environment).
The design enhances the geometric characteristics of the premises, which, although reduced in depth, has a generous height. In this way, we propose to reinterpret the Impress logo, a smile-like curve, to generate a set of interconnected partitions to form a large furniture assembly that meets functional needs: two studies, one on the ground floor and one in the mezzanine, and a toilet.
This set moves two meters away from the façade to establish a reception area in close contact with the street, allowing the interior to be appreciable from the outside; and likewise it moves away of one of the boundary walls to allow access to staircase to mezzanine and basement. The geometry of these partitions is based on circumference curves that go up to take the height of the upper floor, increasing the sense of depth and space by creating different ‘curtains’ in space. While virtually the entire interior is a single open space, the necessary visual privacy is respected by controlling the heights and views from each space, what also creates expectation and surprise about what is on the other side of each wall.
At the rear, a triple-height void introduces natural light into the basement, dedicated to storage, locker, office and kitchenette. On the other side of the void, the X-ray room is accessed through a glass walkway.
The outer enclosure, two large stainless steel windows, follows its own order, not competing with the interior geometry, nor with the axial configuration of the facade. Thus, the frames are placed on the inside of the walls, giving the feeling of being a single window, and two diagonal crossbars introduce new directions and visual axes, creating a set of transparencies and opacities to increase the expectation of what is inside.
The material palette is dominated by the pine wood of the interior partitions, which adds an unusual warmth in a dental clinic; the existing structural elements stand out with the corporate gray color of Impress; a large corporate red-colored sheet metal cladding accompanies the ascent to the mezzanine and stains the interior with red highlights; a neon sign creates a required corner for instagram pics, and above, the corporate blue color stars the wall over the entrance curve; the ceramic flooring has the same red color joints of the metal wall. And in general, all the elements of the interior receive a color and texture treatment that obeys the Impress identity mark.
