"The interior of the box mimics the idea of being under a roof, giving the user a familiar sensation of comfort and helping them to calm down before the treatment," architect Paulo Merlini explained.

Rows of round white lamps illuminate the reception and plant pots hang over a raised bed of gravel at the back of the entrance space, beyond which the brightly lit treatment rooms are located.

A small window has been inserted into the corner of the white box to allow light to pass through to the upper floor, where there's a dark grey waiting area outside a laboratory and meeting room.

The upper level is accessed via a floating white staircase alongside the mirrored side wall of the reception.

We've featured lots of unusual dentists, including a Japanese clinic arranged in a minimalist white grid and a practice in Portugal divided by stripy glass screens – see all dentists on Dezeen.

Other projects in Porto we've featured include an apartment with a hammock hanging over the stairs and a restaurant inside a nineteenth century townhouse – see all architecture in Porto.

Photographs are by Joao Morgado.

Here's some information from the architect:

The uncommon form, narrowness, vertical amplitude of the space and the two big glass façades placed on the main and back façade defined the organization of the spaces.

The reception and waiting room is characterised by a big white box that floats in the air, playing with the vertical amplitude of the space.

The interior of the box mimics the idea of being under a roof, giving the user a familiar sensation of comfort and helping them to calm down before the treatment.

From the "roof" a series of lamps float in the air, filling the space with light. The floating box stops the excessive light and consequent heat coming from the main facade by the end of the day.

On the other hand its big mass pushes the rest of the working spaces to the back façade. This receives a great sky light, with the ideal conditions for working.

Above: ground floor plan

Above: first floor plan

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by Paulo Merlini appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen archive: afraid of going to the dentist? Visiting one of these designer surgeries might help lessen the pain. See all our stories about dentists »

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A total of 55 squares give the building its rectangular plan. Large square doorways open rooms out to one another, creating a layering of spaces that can be used in various configurations.

Ten square courtyards are dotted around the building and are visible through square windows that match the proportions of the doorways.

"While aiming for a functional and rational plan, I encountered ambiguous relationships between outside and inside conditions that generated a mysterious depth in the space," explains Hironaka Ogawa. "The diversity in light and space was created unintentionally by the 55 cells inside of the structure."

Three treatment rooms sit in a row through the centre of the grid, while offices and waiting rooms run along either side. The flexibility of this layout allows for more treatment rooms to be added at a later date.

The roof of the building pitches upwards towards one end to create a variety of ceiling heights.

"One can experience diverse feelings in each and every space because of the dissimilarities in each cell's heights, natural lighting and volume," adds the architect.

A two-storey residence is also included in the building and sits beneath the peak of the roof. Here, rooms wrap around an additional rectangular courtyard.

Hironaka Ogawa set up his studio in 2005. His projects include a wedding chapel in Gunma and a house with trees inside in Kagawa.

See more dental surgeries on Dezeen, including a clinic filled with stripy glass screens.

Photography is by Daici Ano.

Here's the full project description from Hironaka Ogawa:

Chiyodanomori Dental Clinic

This is a dental clinic accompanied with a housing project.

The conditions required were: to make the clinic and housing into one building, to create three individual treatment rooms and a couple of rooms that are able to alter into treatment rooms in the future for the clinic, and to provide the treatment area wide spread feelings while keeping its privacy.

For the housing section, the client wanted to have a pleasant view of the sky. Other than these conditions, locating openings also needed particular attention in order to maintain enough natural lighting levels in the building; the site suffers from strong winter wind and is famous for the hottest temperature record in Japan during the summer.

First of all, I made a rule to create a 2.7m x 2.7m cell that is needed for the individual treatment area. I placed the cells in grid inside of a walled box and located a couple of courtyards to get sunlight while considering their relations to each cell.

By doing so, fifty-five cells were created on the plane. I let the building be seen as one volume by employing a hip roof and laid the second floor of the housing in the hipped or inclined section.

The clinic and a part of the housing have different ceiling heights created by the slanted roof, and the courtyards' varying depth creates natural light gradations. Therefore, there would be diversities in spaces.

The plan is fairly ruled by a 2.7m grid. However, one can experience diverse feelings in each and every space because of the dissimilarities in each cell's heights, natural lighting and volume.

While aiming for a functional and rational plan, I encountered ambiguous relationships between outside and inside conditions that generated a mysterious depth in the space. The diversity in light and space was created unintentionally by the fifty-five cells inside of the structure.

Above: site plan - click for larger image

Above: ground floor plan - click for larger image

Above: first floor plan - click for larger image

Above: section one - click for larger image

Above: section two - click for larger image

Above: exploded isometric - click for larger image

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by Hironaka Ogawa appeared first on Dezeen.

Located in the small village of Best, the old house follows a traditional vernacular with brick walls and a tiled roof. The extension mirrors the profile of the house, but is clad with zinc across both its roof and walls.

Shift explains: "This strengthens the iconic quality of the archetype and renders the new extension into a 'contextual alien' that blends into the rural surroundings and at the same time creates a clear new landmark that expresses its new function."

A row of four treatment rooms spans the length of the new wing and each one features a pointed ceiling, formed by the ridge of the gabled roof overhead.

Small skylights direct daylight onto the dentist's chair, while a single long window runs along the rear wall of the four rooms and offers a generous ledge for flower boxes or outdoor seating.

A glazed corridor connects the new wing with the old house, which contains reception spaces, a kitchen and secondary treatment rooms. "The patient enters and waits in a homely and familiar atmosphere," say the architects.

Shift architecture urbanism is based in Rotterdam and other projects by the firm include a townhouse with a three-storey bookshelf and the stone-clad Faculty Club pavilion.

See more dentists on Dezeen, including one with stripy glass screens.

Photography is by Rene de Wit.

Here's some extra text from Shift:

Dentist with a View, by Shift architecture urbanism

The task of this project was to transform and extend an historical house in the centre of Best, a village in the south of The Netherlands, into a dental practice with four treatment rooms. The central question was how the extension responds to the existing architecture and how it profits from the green setting.

The four new treatment rooms are situated in a new volume that at the same time mimics and contrasts the existing house. Its archetypical volume is derived from the existing house – it takes over the exact same inclination of the pitched roof - while it is being materialized in a very different material. Both the roof and the facades of the extension are clad with zinc. This strengthens the iconic quality of the archetype and renders the new extension into a "contextual alien" that blends into the rural surroundings and at the same time creates a clear new landmark that expresses its new function.

The new volume provides each treatment room with an archetypical space of a miniature house. Its high ridge and steep ceiling results in a vertical space that connects to the perspective of a patient in the dentist chair. A roof light in each treatment room enables the patients to relate with the outside, even during treatment. A large ‘flower window’, that also serves as a bench, floods the rooms with daylight and provides both the staff and their patients with a framed view of the surrounding green.

All secondary functions of the dentist practice are positioned in the existing house without harming its structure and typical 1930’s details. The patient enters and waits in a homely and familiar atmosphere that, together with the experience of the surrounding garden from the extension, makes the necessary visit to the dentist a (slightly) more comforting experience.

Above: site plan

Above: floor plan

Above: long section

Above: front elevation

Above: side elevation

Above: back elevation

Above: side elevation

Address: Oranjestraat 55, 5682 CA Best
Client: Lisette van Gils & Ruben Timmermans

Design: Shift architecture urbanism, Rotterdam
Project architects: Harm Timmermans, Pieter Heymans
Advisor construction: B2CO, Richard Fielt, Ede
Adviseur installations: Van Delft Groep, Nieuwkuijk

Contractor: Van der Weegen Bouwgroep, Tilburg
Contractor Furniture: Bots Bouwgroep, Deurne
Sub contractor zinc facade: Bax koper en zinkspecialist, Bergeijk
Sub contractor frames: Hoefnagels Groep, Tilburg
Gross surface area: 292 m2
Building costs: €340.000 excl. vat

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by Shift appeared first on Dezeen.

Patterned with vertical stripes of green and black, the semi-transparent walls surround the reception and waiting area of the clinic and are made from recycled glass panels of different thicknesses.

"The inspiration came from a block of ice," architect Miguel Marques Venâncio told Dezeen, and explained how he wanted to "potentiate the reflections and the vibrations of the light, creating a perception of space that is constantly mutating."

Narrow recesses fold around the walls and ceilings, and are illuminated from behind to provide channels of light.

Apart from the colourful screens, the clinic has an all-white interior that is only interrupted by a handful of red and blue chairs within the three surgery rooms.

See more stories about dentists on Dezeen »

Photography is by Fernando Guerra.

Here's some more information from MMVArquitecto:

The challenge is based on the re-interpretation of a Dental Clinic, in the search of a new clarity and spatial character.

The site is located on a first floor of a common building in the centre of Torres Vedras. The space requires a new image to provoke new atmospheres, new sensations.

The desire of creating a distinguished space in the city, more paused, contemplative, a space of reflection, leading to the discovery of the importance of silence and of spaces apparently empty yet full of drive.

An experimentation where the selection of materials is sustained by the nobleness of the materials. That experimentation is essentially realised with the immaterial architectural element, which is space.

Working with space, is determined by perception, paths, light, reflections, transparencies, fluidity.

The mass composed by a summary of recycled glasses, potentiates the reflections and the vibrations of the light, by creating a perception of space that is constantly mutating.

The search of a timeless space, with a plentitude of senses, where light is filtered in different ways, gives poetry to spaces, dignifying them.

Location: Torees Vedras, Portugal
Client: R. Leal
Architect: Migues Marques Venâncio

Collaborators: B. Pedrosa (project, digital images), V. Vázquez (project), M. Álvarez (project), T. Palos (models, drawings)
Construction supervision: MMVArquitecto
Construction company: António Manuel Nogueira Cesário

Plan - click above for larger image and key

Long section - click above for larger image

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MMVArquitecto appeared first on Dezeen.