Colour Therapy
Must clinics and treatment rooms always appear aseptic, practical and cool? The Berlin architect Dr.-Ing. Todorova answers this question has clear "no", and has designed the rooms of a large orthopaedic group practice under very different terms. Curved shapes, happy colours and an imaginative lighting ensure the new practice the right "feel good factor", which cheers up the patients and provides for the medical staff a great atmosphere. When the joint practice Dr. Schleicher / Dr. Winter / Dr. Schumann was to be rebuilt, the designer was initially faced with a few problems. The entire floor area, had housed a single and a double doctor's practice, and had been adapted several times over years of changing requirements. Now, the rooms should be fundamentally restructured and redivided. Approximately 600 square meters of space for modern treatment methods using X-rays, surgery, laser therapy and image intensifier space had to be created. In addition, the consulting room for three doctors, reception, waiting area, sanitary facilities and common areas should be accommodated. These spatial requirements on such a small area resulted in a forced small-scale floor plan with many interior spaces. Of course, a cost-conscious design is important. At the same time the working conditions were difficult. The reconstruction of the offices could not take place all at one time in empty rooms, but had to be gradually carried out while the practice was fully operational. Here, the organizational skills of the architect and the flexibility of exporting firms were particularly in demand. In order to achieve an architectural and spatial quality despite all the limitations, Ms. Todorova worked with colour, light and curved shapes. She put special emphasis on the design of the "public areas", such as reception and hallway. The curved Knauf walls of the corridors help to reduce the narrowness. Other elements, like a half column set into the wall or the curved desk in the reception area, repeat the architectural principle of roundness. Artistic details such as aluminium strips inserted into the wall and recessed ceiling mouldings with built-in lighting also emphasize the rounded shapes. The Berlin drywall company Klincov all performed here an excellent job. The curved wall of the Knauf fire panels and 12.5 mm Knauf boards as a 6.5 mm outer planking guarantees a fire resistance of R 30-A and a noise value Rw of 42 dB. Because of the perfect curve of the smoothly spackled 6.5 mm thick Knauf panels, the entire surface looks flawless even with oblique light. A generous lighting emphasizes the interior, letting the rooms appear brighter and wider. Frosted glass cutouts in the walls bring light into the small, inner treatment rooms, which are perceived in this way as much friendlier. As a further design element Ms Todorova formed the colour environment. She arranged for each practice area, a separate guiding colour from nature: meadow green, aqua and dark, earthy red. So much colour in a doctor's office seemed a bit daring to the doctors. But fortunately, this colour concept with clear, bright tones and strong accents, could in the end convince the architecturally interested clients . Ms Todorova gave a strong priority to the principle of colour and it's desired effect. She made sure that the final application of shade would coincide with the appropriate lighting effect before it's implementation, since artificial light changes the colour effect of individual shades. The designer left the exact colour mixture up to the responsible company Gundlach. Therefore, with a little creativity, a maximum spatial effect and brightness within confined areas was achieved- so that the staff can work in good mood, and the patients in the practice of Dr. Winter / Dr. Schleicher / Dr. Schumann can feel really good.
Source: Gebrüder Knauf, Iphofen Fotograf: Gallandi, Berlin Autor Dipl.Ing. Doris Pfeffermann, Berlin Sonderheft. ausbau+fassade |
