Tweet Pediatric Dentistry NarrativeTweet Pediatric Dentistry - Design Considerations
The Users
There are two primary user groups in this facility whose needs and wants are the driving factor
for most of the design decisions. The first is the Doctor and her staff who are going to spend a
good portion of their waking hours here. It is vital that every morning as they walk through the
doors they have reason to pause and reflect on how much they enjoy the space and how well it
supports them as they treat their patients. If the design achieves that, they will have a good day,
and their patients will have a good experience. The second user group is the patients. Visiting
the dentist can be a frightening experience for a child, and if that fear is not allayed, it is a fear
that can stay with a person for the rest of their life. It is vital that as they approach and move
through the facility it is inviting, honest (yes, kids get that), non-threatening, and even fun.
The Building
Complexity adds interest, but it also adds to the construction budget. The most economic
building to construct is a rectangular box, which is where we usually start, but it isn’t where we
want to end. As we add complexity, we want to maximize the benefit while minimizing the cost,
and it is important that there is an honest justification behind any decision, that it is not arbitrary.
While this site abuts public streets to the north and west, the site is accessed from a private
shared drive to the south. The first impulse is to have the building entrance face the public right
of way, but the building is not that large, and between the setbacks and a properly sized parking
lot the building would get pushed further back and visibility of the office would be compromised.
By placing the building as close to the intersection as zoning allows, we maximize the visibility
of the dental office to the public, and the angled property line justifies our first layer of
complexity, ie, bending the building.
Bending the building transforms a single element into two, and by offsetting the walls and raising
the roof on each end, we get a third element by clearly defining the middle from the two ends.
This corresponds to the three main components of a dental facility; hospitality, treatment area ,
and support. The interior of the angle also creates a more inviting approach to the building, the
entrance naturally occurs in the most protected area and the building appears shorter, more
intimate, as the corners fold in to embrace the visitor. These corners are defined by a natural
stone, anchoring the building to the earth. The walls leading to and through the entry are
burnished block complimenting the aluminum and glass storefront, providing a transition from
natural and coarse to polished and smooth as you move from exterior to interior.
The footprint of the building is bilaterally symmetric, a balance which people find comforting on
a subconscious level, yet the two different roof forms keep the overall composition from being
boring and mundane by adding a schism to that symmetry. A number of factors dictated that the
treatment area be located in the south end of the building, and since that is where the Doctor and
the patients will spend 90% of their time, it made sense that this wing would get the vaulted roof,
which is also expressed on the interior with high wood deck ceilings supported by exposed
curved glu-lam beams. While the east portion of the north wing will also have high wood
ceilings (flat), the west half, like the middle of the building, is exclusively staff and support areas
with lower acoustic ceilings where the aesthetics of a vaulted structure would have been lost and
wasted. Both of the higher roofs will have an area of low roof encroaching into them, creating
pockets for locating the RTUs that will then be screened on three sides by the higher roofs.
The Site
The development to the east influenced how the site was designed based on shared parking and
access easements. That included some parking along the north, so placing our staff parking to
the north, along with access to the trash / recycling room was a natural decision and it put these
elements away from the client experience. This also reinforced that the treatment area and future
expansion of the building be to the south. The angle in the building carries through to the visitor
parking, which breaks up an otherwise continuous stretch of uninterrupted parking. The fenced
in exterior play area is well visible from the entry, waiting room, and indoor kids’ area, and it
provides a buffer between staff and visitor parking
Landscaping
The overriding theme for the landscaping plan is “sustainable”. As noted, the setbacks from the
right of way are considerable, and the right of way is substantially wider that the physical
roadways, so there is a lot of space to fill between curb and building. The juxtaposition of this
site with the wetlands and trail to the south make it ideal for seeding with a mix of native grasses
and wildflowers (listed on the landscape plan). This mix will provide a bufferyard of pollinator
friendly wildflowers which vary in color with staggered blooming times, creating an
everchanging landscape throughout the growing season. The native grasses will fill in the
matrix, adding more texture and color. This strategy greatly reduces water usage and the burning
of fossil fuels by eliminating the need to irrigate and mow regularly. The natural prairie
becomes more formal and refined as it meets the building, with the foundation plantings still
consisting of grasses but utilizing larger more prominent species spaced regularly. The required
overstory and understory trees are spread around the site and parking area, with understory trees
screening some building utilities at the NW corner.