We normally do not think too much about the interior design of dental clinics. There are some places in the world, however, where this area gets lot of attention and focus too.
In the Japanese countryside having a dental clinic attached to the dentist’s private home is quite common. Hironaka Ogawa & Associates followed an unconventional path and designed something unique for their clients: a young dentist, his wife and their little son. Located in Chiyoda, a town in Gunma Prefecture, the contemporary building unites private residence and dental clinic under an interestingly angled roof structure.
The concept of the building is based on some simple ideas: flexibility, possibility of extension and symmetry. The architecture office picked a module of 2.7m x 2.7m, which is in fact the minimum size of the dental treatment rooms in Japan. Hironaka Ogawa did not stop here but repeated the modules exactly 55 times, arranging the cells within a rectangular grid and added a couple of inner courtyards also. He had another great idea and walled off the surrounding environment, eventually leaving only the sky visible from inside the building. The reason for this? This solution offers ideal protection against severe summer heat and strong winter winds.
Despite the repetitive module-like spaces, the interior of the building has a cozy and spacious atmosphere. Each main cell has a big opening in the wall – 2.1m high and 1.8m wide – that faces a lovely inner courtyard. The openings in the walls between the connected modules were also carefully designed. It is impossible to see the ceiling of the adjacent room until one steps into it due to the fact that the openings are lower than the rooms themselves. According to Hironaka Ogawa: ‘Variations in the ceiling height, volume and light intensity throughout the interior enhance the mysterious sense of depth within a building that ‘looks different from every angle’.
The Chiyodanomori Dental Clinic & Residence is a great project that will definitely educate and inspire plenty of other architects and designers too.
