Clinic in the Woods

说明：
‘Clinic in the Woods’ is a pediatric dental and orthodontic clinic in Saitama, Japan, planned in the aim of promoting social and educational interaction of children and community.   The area around the site has been largely occupied by zelkova trees for centuries, some of which still remains in the garden of the client. There stand residential properties and dentistry the client’s family has run for last 60 years surrounded by the greenery - the garden was so flourished with trees that the neighbors actually called it ‘dentistry in the woods.’ The existing clinic mainly offers regular dental care while it occasionally treats orthodontic and pediatric patients. Along with the increasing demands for latter services, the client decided to build an annex for dental and orthodontic treatments for children exclusively.   The project site was planned to take over half of the garden forest, which we wanted to reserve as much as possible, so we have suggested a clinic standing among and along with the plants on the site as part of the flow of landscape from the client’s garden extending towards the town. We arranged walls standing against the private garden for blocking visual access from the clinic, while the gaps between each block still allow shrubs and trees flow into, through the building and out to the street to meet the neighborhood. Perpendicular to these walls, on the other hand, there is no opaque barrier or column interrupting the view that one can clearly see the layers of gardens and rooms across the clinic under the shimmering ceiling. Mixed up with the small courtyards juxtaposed with the volumes and soaring through the skylights, the treatment rooms offer a tranquil, comfortable scene embraced in nature that would soothe the anxiety of little patients and their family. The shrubs also work as an adequate privacy safeguards for each area.   Besides the dental practice, the clinic also provides a gym space for chiropractic and exercise programs planned in conjunction with medical treatments, based on a belief of the client in the idea “Oral health comes with overall physical and mental health.” The exercise room, moreover, serves the community as well through several local public workout programs such as yoga/aerobic dance for ladies or chiropractic session dedicated to the seniors in the neighborhood.   In the same context, the spacious lounge and the rooftop balcony near the entrance is open for the local community to drop by and sit down for a cup of tea and a little chat even without a medical appointment. The children from the kindergarten right beside the clinic, especially, have an easy access at their break or after school to simply relax waiting for their pickup, sometimes joining the dance class in the gym. They get familiar with the dental clinic this way which helps easing the tense when they actually have to visit for a treatment.   The variety of material use on exterior/interior finishing of each volume and changing floor height gives the space a playful spirit for the visitors to enjoy. The relationship between the roof and each volume also varies - touching at the edge, offset, cut by, penetrating through -, somehow all these elements are brought together under the soft silver roof floating over.   The continuous mountain-and-valley roof covering the rooms and courtyards is perforated deliberately to deliver sunlight to the ground floor, enough for growing plants underneath. Its folded shape, which resembles the gable roofs of the neighboring houses, structurally enables a self-supportive system with a minimum amount of column. The roof stretches out and forms a cantilever canopy at the entrance plaza and over the front garden open towards the street.   Surrounded by greenery and trees under the undulating roof, not only does the clinic create a relaxing atmosphere for young patients but it actually proposes a space to embrace and look after all the children in the neighborhood as a communal hub.

查看更多