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i29 creates colour-block interiors for Amsterdam dental clinic
Fresh white treatment rooms are contrasted with khaki-green communal areas inside the Dentista dental clinic in Amsterdam, which has been designed by local studio i29. More
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Ten architecture projects from students at the Academy of Art University
An aquarium designed to protect marine biodiversity and a healing centre using horticultural techniques to help treat mental illness are included in our latest school show by architecture students at the Academy of Art University.
Other projects include a “public living room” that blends neighbourhood life with areas for privacy and a residential hub designed to enable economic self-sufficiency for residents.
School: Academy of Art University, School of ArchitectureCourses: M.Arch M.Arch2 B.Arch MA and BATutor: Mark Mueckenheim, David Gill, Nicole Lambrou, Sameena Sitabkhan, Eoanna Harrison, Philip Ra and Mini Chu
School statement:
“We are a progressive design laboratory of highly passionate students and a distinguished faculty of practising architects who work together to explore the boundaries of architecture. Our interactive onsite and online studio experience harnesses digital tools to mentor students throughout our rigorous curriculum.
“We offer an excellent design education by developing each student’s capacity to synthesise critical thought, architectural vision, and technical comprehension. Our programmes engage with current global issues, empowering students to be change-makers and leaders advocating for social equity. Our diverse international community enables us to propagate a unique cultural response to build a better world.”Outer Mission Ramp Library – a knowledge connector for rapidly changing communities by Yi Hsien Rachel Wang
“The typology of library buildings has evolved throughout history, reflecting the changes in information systems and learning activities. By combining social, functional and environmental benefits, the thesis is projecting a new sustainable library typology as a prototype for a public learning infrastructure.
“The main conceptual idea is to design the library as a continuous ramp, connecting previously separated areas in the diverse local city fabric. The architectural intervention shortens the neighbourhood’s physical and social distances by combining pedestrian bridges, casual and formal learning infrastructure as a public living room for residents to gather, work, exercise and entertain.”
Student: Yi Hsien Rachel WangCourse: Master of Architecture ThesisTutor: Mark MueckenheimSelf-generating Architecture: Pier 28 by Valeryia Haletskaya
“The design for a hybrid aquarium and research-development centre at Pier 28 on the San Francisco waterfront employs organic, metabolic and self-generating materials. Artificial organisms – protocells that in time grow into artificial limestone – help to decrease levels of carbon dioxide while reinforcing the existing structure and building its sea-wall reef, skeleton, and envelope.
“Researchers, students and visitors share spaces for learning, interaction, and collaboration. The scheme offers protection for marine species and enhances biodiversity. The living architectural intervention is aimed as a long-term solution for coastal cities and other areas at risk from storms surges due to climate change.”
Student: Valeryia HaletskayaCourse: Master of Architecture Thesis M.ArchTutor: Mark MueckenheimOuter Mix Investigating mixed-use development as a means to fostering a healthy year-round community on the Outer Cape by Christian Fish
“A lack of affordable, year-round housing has become an urgent crisis on Cape Cod, afflicting low and middle-income families depending on a largely seasonal economy. Outer Mix imagines a new residential, social and economic hub on a 10-acre area in the Eastham Corridor Special District.
“Organised into four blocks repeated throughout the site, 95 residential units are combined with nearly 30,000 square feet of economic and social programming. This includes artist studios, co-working spaces, cafes, a library, daycare and community greenhouse. This programme mix enables economic and sustainable self-sufficiency and a community for residents.”
Student: Christian FishCourse: Master of Architecture ThesisTutor: Nicole LambrouEco-Tecture – Unifying Ecology with Architecture by Kevin Brady
“How can architecture enhance, improve and support educational and public awareness of the conservation and preservation of our local natural resources? Exposure and access to the elements of nature enliven the spirit, inspire curiosity, and encourages a ‘critical thinking’ response while promoting a healthy interactive lifestyle.
“This thesis seeks to determine how architecture could positively impact an ecological setting that strengthens community health, productivity, conservation and ecological awareness. This design approach engages user groups with the natural environment while preserving the ecological habitat.”
Student: Kevin BradyCourse: Master of Architecture ThesisTutor: David GillA Living Architecture by Aishwarya Naidu Bobbili
“This project is a healing centre incorporating earth and plants into its form and structure to create a holistic, sustainable space for wellness and rehabilitation. Farming, nature and architecture form a dialectic relationship. Horticultural techniques such as pleaching aid in the treatment of mental illness and serve as a therapeutic strategy.
“Located in Bakersfield, near Oil City in Kern County, California, the site is near the highest polluted city in the United States. The project aims to aid in healing people with a tranquil environment that incorporates sustainable and biophilic design.”
Student: Aishwarya Naidu BobbiliCourse: Master of Architecture ThesisTutor: Mark MueckenheimUnity Pavilion for Northridge Cooperative Housing by Naomi Rojas, Shunyi Yang, Dylan Ingle, Rhonuel Domingcil, Fabio Lemos, Corona Xiaohuan Gao, Malak Bellajdel, Kenta Oye, Jacob Delaney, Harikrishna Patel and Daniel Cervantes
“A design-build project by the B.Lab group, the pavilion fosters cooking, eating and storytelling within a community garden in the Hunters Point neighbourhood of San Francisco.
“Due to a lack of access to healthy, affordable food in the area, the pavilion integrates counters, benches, and a movable kitchen table for cooking demonstrations using produce directly from the garden, while a series of frames offer shade and a vista of the bay.
“The design was derived from several communities and youth workshops together with feedback from garden volunteers, and the pavilion was measured and tested on full-scale prototypes before construction.”
Student: Naomi Rojas, Shunyi Yang, Dylan Ingle, Rhonuel Domingcil, Fabio Lemos, Corona Xiaohuan Gao, Malak Bellajdel, Kenta Oye, Jacob Delaney, Harikrishna Patel and Daniel CervantesCourse: B Arch Collaborative Project / Building Lab – b.Lab / ARH 498Tutor: Sameena Sitabkhan, NOMA and Eoanna Harrison, AIASign-Up Sheet by Daniel Joonhee Lee
“The project investigates the relationship between the sacred and the political, and the role of the autonomous citizen therein. Sign-up sheets are simple yet contractual.
“Where public services are exchanged, they are activating devices bringing citizens together to achieve common goals. Sacred architecture has been a beacon of alternative governance by becoming places of refuge and political action.
“This thesis frames those events as distinct from the economic agenda of neoliberalism. Sign-Up Sheet reimagines the site with an urban sanctuary in San Francisco’s Tenderloin where non-profit staffs and community members live and work in a hub of collective activity.”
Student: Daniel Joonhee LeeCourse: Bachelor of Architecture ThesisTutor: Philip Ra and Mini ChuKid of Parts for the Bayview Commons Apartments by Adam Nuru, Markish Siojo, Dylan Ingle, Fabio Lemos, Xiaohuan Corona Gao
“Through a series of community events at the Bayview Commons Apartments, an affordable housing community in San Francisco, we learned that residents wanted an active, intergenerational, and flexible space that allowed for relaxation, interactive play and community events.
“Our final design incorporates a set of flexible, movable furniture that can be set up in different configurations. Intergenerational play, imagination, and socializing are emphasized through the design of different panels on the modular pieces. The colourful groundscape is coded to give clues for spatial use and provide a vibrant surface that complements the colours of the wall mural.”
Student: Adam Nuru, Markish Siojo, Dylan Ingle, Fabio Lemos, Xiaohuan Corona GaoCourse: B Arch Collaborative Project / Building Lab b.Lab / ARH 498Tutor: Sameena Sitabkhan, NOMAInfilling the Void by Kenta Oye
“Urban planning in San Francisco has confined ethnic neighbourhoods to inhuman spaces. My ancestral heritage includes the repeated displacement of the Japanese community to unwanted or forgotten territories.
“The design reveals the lost layers of the site – where the first Japan town took root in 1900 – by activating the alleys, offering a cultural centre that borrows from museum and immigration centre programmes.
“The act of making was the catharsis that enabled this community to cope creatively. Ceramic, wood, and sewing galleries are paired with adjacent workshops, providing spaces to congregate, exchange ideas and share experiences through craft.”
Student: Kenta OyeCourse: Bachelor of Architecture ThesisTutor: Philip Ra and Mini ChuUrban Living Room by Zoe Qiaoyu Zheng
“The project brings neighbourhood life into public space while blurring boundaries and creating conditions of privacy. Public programmes and varied open spaces blend traditional library and private spaces with adjacent buildings.
“The design responds to natural light, wind, and views but also create opportunities to block visual contact with adjacent residences. People are welcome to celebrate their time here, and the architecture makes invisible boundaries to protect their personal space as needed.
“This is not just a library or another place to hang out; the proposal also provides opportunities for people to safely interact in acceptable proximities.”
Student: Zoe Qiaoyu ZhengCourse: Bachelor of Architecture ThesisTutor: Philip Ra and Mini Chu
Partnership content
This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and the Academy of Art University. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.Read more: More
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Kingston Lafferty Design creates “otherworldly” interiors for Dublin skin clinic
A palette of plaster, marble, terrazzo and stainless steel was chosen to create interiors that customers want to “reach out and touch” in this Dublin skin clinic by Kingston Lafferty Design.The local firm was commissioned by the Fitzgerald Private Clinic to capture a sense of calm, quiet luxury while maintaining the cleanliness expected from a surgery.
Top image: the Fitzgerald Private Clinic has a marble-clad archway. Above: its retail space features marble counters
“The service offer is premium and luxury, and the spaces that encapsulate it were designed to echo that at every touchpoint,” Kingston Lafferty Design founder Roisin Lafferty told Dezeen.
“We wanted to design a space that was tactile and all-encompassing with a sense of otherworldliness, incorporating associations of sterility with a balance of warmth.”Kingston Lafferty Design plays with scale inside Dublin restaurant Cinnamon
Spread across two tight, 46-square-metre floors, the Dublin clinic houses retail, storage and waiting areas on the lower level while the first floor encapsulates three treatment rooms, a toilet, staff room and secondary waiting area.
“It is a very small space, so we needed to be clever when designing the layout to get the absolute maximum use from the space,” explained Lafferty. “Every element is jigsawed together to double up, offering both functionality and beauty.”The interior of the arch is finished with terracotta-coloured tiles
Customers enter the clinic through a street-facing, pink-hued retail store with a micro cement floor and a curved wall lined with plaster tubes. According to Kingston Lafferty Design (KLD), these were designed to resemble putty and made from multiple layers of warm-toned plaster that were built up within a custom mould.
“We wanted the different surfaces to be tactile and combined in unexpected ways, almost calling for people to reach out and touch, and for everything to appear as though it was formed from the structure of the building, as though it was all meant to be there,” said Lafferty.The clinic’s undulating pink plaster wall has three inset shelves
Set with three brass shelves, the undulating wall doubles as a retail display area and also conceals added storage space behind a fully tube-clad door.
The entrance area is anchored by a black and white terrazzo reception desk that sits under an Acquasanta marble archway. The underside of the arch is clad with zig-zagging matt red tiles that complement the tone of the marble.The walls and floor of the waiting area are covered in black and white terrazzo
“The arch is the strongest element that frames the clinic experience,” the designer explained. “It highlights the sales and reception desk while encasing and concealing an existing structural beam. We built the arch to align with the depth of the custom reception desk, focusing on materiality both on the front facade and the inner depth.”
The skin clinic, which sits beyond the arch, contrasts with the soft pink tones of the store. It features a stainless steel staircase and black and white terrazzo flooring, with the archway marking the junction between the two.Treatment rooms are clad in stainless steel
“The staircase was the only structural element that we kept in the design. We sought to make a feature of its angular form and framed it in steel and glass, the steel providing both a tactile wall covering and a vital storage bank with additional retail display for product,” Lafferty said.
An intimate waiting room wrapped in terrazzo and housing a bench seat upholstered in blue leather is located on the other side of the store’s curved, undulating wall.Brass accents in the toilets add an element of warmth
On the first floor, mirror- and walnut-clad boxes create a series of interconnecting treatment rooms and corridors.
“The treatment rooms needed to be highly clinical, sterile and very easy to keep clean,” said Lafferty. “Hygiene was of the utmost importance to the client. So we wanted to find a balance so that it didn’t feel cold and unwelcoming.”Blue terrazzo counters the sterility of the stainless steel
Lozenge-shaped mirrors were added to disrupt the rooms’ clean lines and add softness, while subtle colour changes were introduced through a blue tone in the terrazzo and a hint of green in the textured plaster walls and ceilings.
A seamless, full-height wall of walnut wood was added to the corridor outside the treatment rooms to contrast against the steel cabinetry and add warmth to the upper floor.
Health and self-care was a central theme in another of KLD’s recent refurbishment projects. Earlier this year, the studio incorporated green walls, a yoga studio and rooftop terrace into a co-working office in Belfast to help workers unwind.
Photography is by Ruth Maria Murphy.Read more: More
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Van Eijk & Van der Lubbe designs Utrecht care facility like a boutique hotel
Domstate Zorghotel is a rehabilitation centre in Utrecht, the Netherlands, designed by Dutch studio Van Eijk & Van der Lubbe to give patients a hotel experience.Van Eijk & Van der Lubbe deliberately approached the interiors of the 84-bed health facility like they were creating a 4-star hotel to give patients a more comfortable stay.
“Unlike similar ‘healing environments’, this care hotel is designed from the user’s perspective,” said the studio.
“The interior actively participates in the rehabilitation process of the patients,” they added. “From small interior accessories to large spatial gestures, everything is focussed on the process of healing.”Top: the care facility has 84 bedrooms. Above: a grand piano sits in the lobby
In the patients’ rooms elements such as a mirror, a shelf and a headboard hang from a curved rail on the wall on thick leather straps. As well as providing a striking visual element, the rail can be used for rehabilitation exercises.
Straps on handles and peepholes placed at different levels cater to patients with different levels of mobility.Door handles have accessible straps
To add to the boutique hotel vibe, each floor of rooms has a different colour scheme.
Colour is a central part of making the interiors feel less institutional. The lobby features a grey-blue curving reception desk and rounded seating with a mustard-yellow base.Parking for mobility walkers and plants
Fabric curtains on rails can be used to screen areas off and a grand piano can be used for practices and performances.
Graphic markings on the floor mimic different floor finishes and change colour according to the area, such as blue in the lobby, green in the dining room and pink in staff areas.Staff areas are also colourful
In Domstate Zorghotel’s restaurant, a curving green unit provides a discreet place to park wheelchairs and walkers. Rooms such as this are designed to subtly encourage guests to practise for real-world situations when they leave.
Plants spill out of boxes in the built-in dividers and seating areas.Colourful patterns cover the floors
Van Eijk & Van der Lubbe were careful to make sure the staff areas are fun and comfortable too.
A pink curved multi-level banquette screened by plants in pink planters forms an attractive place for employees to sit outside of their desks. Geometric markings in the pink floor add interest to another staff area.Integrated Field decorates children’s hospital in Thailand with slides and a pool
“In the areas of the building where employees work, it’s OK for them to colour outside the lines,” said Van Eijk & Van der Lubbe.
“The design for these areas is aimed at making the most of innovation and diversity in day-to-day work.”Van Eijk & Van der Lubbe designed the facility to be fun
Van Eijk & Van der Lubbe was founded in 1998 by Dutch designers Miriam van der Lubbe and Niels van Eijk. Their previous work includes a mirrored concept car and the refurbishment of a concert hall in Eindhoven.
Domstate Zorghotel has been shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2020 in the leisure and wellness interior category, alongside a children’s hospital in Thailand and an underground spa in New York.Read more: More
Integrated Field decorates children's hospital in Thailand with slides and a pool
Design studio Integrated Field has created colourful arched interiors filled with animals and clouds to provide an enjoyable experience for children at a hospital in Samut Sakhon, Thailand.Playful touches in EKH Children’s Hospital include a bright yellow slide that spirals through the reception and animal shapes above hospital beds and light-up constellations that act as night lights.
A yellow slide spirals through the entrance
EKH Children’s Hospital has been shortlisted for leisure and wellness interior of the year at Dezeen Awards 2020.Integrated Field wanted the young visitors to the medical facility to be put at ease in what can be a scary and unfamiliar place.
Waiting rooms have play areas and soft benches
The designers put fun elements, such as clouds above an indoor swimming pool and soft play areas in the waiting rooms, to help distract children who could be nervous or feeling unwell.
“Imagine being a kid dreading going into the hospital, the slide will definitely make you stop crying,” said the studio.
“The waiting area of each clinic is designed into a playground, which becomes something of a burden for the parents when having to convince the kids to leave the hospital.”Slides make hospital visits so fun sometimes children don’t want to leave
An indoor swimming pool adds to the fun, with arched windows that form circular reflections in the water and white clouds decorating the walls against a sky-blue backdrop.
In the pharmacy, the play area is designed so that parents can easily keep an eye on their charges when they’re waiting at the counter.The rooms are themed around animals such as rabbits
Arches above doorways and alcoves and rounded seating areas were all designed with a child’s perspective in mind, and these architectural elements were scaled to their height.
Rooms are painted in soft pastel tones, including pink, blue and yellow.Ater Architects creates friendly interior for a children’s clinic in Kyiv
“The pastel colour tone encourages the children’s use of imagination,” Integrated Field told Dezeen.
“As a kid, we all create our own imaginary world when we are experiencing a space for the first time,” it added. “Each specific colour refers to a specific animal representing each zone, such as sky blue for whales.”Ceiling decorations double as nightlights
Rooms for overnight stays are given animal themes to make them more appealing – Whale, Turtle, Lion and Rabbit Constellation.
The animal’s outline is picked out on the ceiling so that it is visible during the day. At night, soft lightbulbs and glow in the dark strips pick out a constellation of stars that acts as a comforting nightlight.Arches feature in the hospital’s bathrooms
Lighting in all of the hospital rooms and corridors is also designed to be soft, rather than the harsh fluorescent lights usually found in hospital settings.
In the hospital bathrooms, the girls’ toilets are tiled pink and the boys’ yellow. Sinks and urinals are set into arched alcoves, with half of the facilities placed at a child’s height for easy access.The facade is also decorated with animals
On the exterior facade, pastel-coloured metal screens have perforations that form the shape of animals.
“As adults, we find ourselves amazed if not a bit jealous by the mesmerising variety and development of children’s toys or even snacks these days,” said the studio.
“EKH Children Hospital will change everyone’s perception about what the space of a children’s hospital can be.”
Integrated Field was founded in 2011 and is based in Bangkok.
Other colourful children’s hospitals include a hospital in Brisbane with a colourful facade and a layout inspired by trees, and a brightly coloured children’s outpatient clinic in Kyiv that is also designed to be deliberately un-threatening.
Photography is by Ketsiree Wongwan.
Project credits:
Owner: Ekachai HospitalInterior architect: Integrated FieldArchitect: S:CSBLandscape architect: S:CSBLighting designer: Nopporn SakulwigitsinthuEnvironmental graphics: Integrated FieldStructural engineer: S:CSBElectrical engineer: S:CSBSanitary engineer: S:CSBMain contractor: Adisorn ConstructionInterior contractor: Open Interior, PansinSignage contractor: D.R. AdvertisingRead more: More
