Project Description
A two-story dental office that creates a modern revival in historic suburban community.
With size limitations due to available footprint and fire safety, the 4,300-square foot building maximizes program efficiency by doubling the operational programming within a footprint only slightly larger than the previous space. An atrial void in the second floor is strategically implemented to comply to occupiable space limitations while creating a double height space at the front entry that gives it a grand, spacious quality. This strategy also allows for proportion to be maintained in the exterior massing and the scale to fit in with the neighboring context. The scale of the atrium is dramatized by a south-facing double height bay window, soothing its inhabitants with a cascade of natural light. The main staircase in the void is layered with an elongated slat wall to create a sculptural silhouette as the centerpiece. The transparency levels created maintains visual privacy as doctors and employees circulate. The detail, pattern, and materials of the interior elements are tied together with a neutral color palette to cohesively merge the contemporary and traditional aesthetic desires of two doctors, creating a calming experience for an environment most associate as cold and sterile.
As it breathes new life into the dental practice, the project enlivens the Illinois suburb’s conventional established style. As the posh suburb’s carefully curated style required a strict adherence to the guidelines, the project insidiously inserts a contemporary quality to the historically residential pitch roof form through massing, color, and pattern of approved materials. The use of black shingles and white fiber cement siding, accented with black metal windows, lends a modern feel while stone adds warmth and connects the building to its contextual history. Intersecting masses are cloaked in traditional residential materials, yet softly defined through the shifts in direction and detail. Harking back to the town’s farming and agricultural history, the simple forms rejuvenate an architectural style accustomed to by local residents, seamlessly connecting the time honored architectural tradition to the present. The lot was rezoned to a Light Business Use district by capitalizing on the city’s future plans for 2030 to expand the downtown area, propelling the present closer towards the future. This new beacon of the downtown attracts visitors and returning patients alike to grow the business of two charming female doctors.