Silver Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2023
Coexisting With Nature Clinic
- A' Design Award 2023 Silver Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2023
- CLIENT: TSC Architects
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 17,000
- Verification code 918C786FFD · Verify this award
About Coexisting With Nature Clinic
This dental clinic was created using a design method that takes advantage of the vegetation, height difference, and depth of the existing land. TSC Architects wanted to design a clinic where patients can experience nature as if they were taking a walk on the road. They planned to leave the trees as much as possible, arrange the functions of the clinic to match the characteristics of the land, and connect them with corridors and multiple roofs. By setting the height of the floor at the center of the height difference on the site, people can feel a sense of floating and sinking into the ground.
This distinguished example of healthcare architecture, awarded recognition in the A' Design Award competition, represents a compelling synthesis of regional building traditions and contemporary therapeutic design philosophy. The work demonstrates how medical facilities may transcend purely functional parameters to create environments that actively contribute to patient wellbeing through thoughtful material selection, spatial choreography, and integration with the natural world. The cedar shingle cladding, applied in variegated tones suggesting natural weathering and aging, evokes craft traditions while the generous fenestration ensures interior spaces receive abundant natural light, a factor increasingly recognized in evidence-based healthcare design. The pavilion-like massing, with its protective hip roof extending over deep eaves, suggests shelter and sanctuary while the raised concrete plinth elevates the structure above the landscape plane, creating a subtle monumentality appropriate to the healing arts. The surrounding landscape design merits equal consideration, featuring a careful gradation from formal elements near the vehicular approach through increasingly naturalistic zones incorporating native deciduous specimens and groundcover plantings that soften the architectural presence. The work participates in a broader contemporary movement toward human-centered healthcare environments that recognize the therapeutic potential of architectural experience itself. Viewers may wish to consider how the interplay of traditional forms and transparent walls creates spaces that feel simultaneously grounded in place yet open to the restorative presence of nature beyond.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- This dental clinic was created using a design method that takes advantage of the vegetation, height difference, and depth of the existing land. TSC Architects planned to leave the trees as much as possible, arrange the functions of the clinic to match the characteristics of the land, and connect them with open corridors and multiple roofs. By setting the height of the floor at the center of the height difference on the site, people can feel a sense of floating and sinking into the ground.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Areas: Site dimension 763.72 sqm / Plot ratio 34.44% / built area 270.70 sqm / Total floor space: 262.97 sqm / Building coverage ratio 35.45％
- Tags
- Architecture, Hospital, Design, Life, Health, Public, Clinic, Wood, Dentistry, Nature
- Production Technology
- TSC first decided on the area where the building would be built while preserving plants as much as possible. Next, considering the function of the clinic and imagining the scenery, They examined the layout of the rooms, and connected them with a wooden frame roof that reveals the volume of the space. By setting the height of the floor at the center of the height difference of the land, people feel floating in the waiting room and sink into the ground toward the examination room and staff zone.
- Design Challenge
- Constructing the building without damaging existing trees was a challenge for TSC and the contractors. They had a landscaping expert determine which trees they could keep, and some were transplanted. In addition, by structurally devising the roof, they realized a space with a sense of unity wrapped in a large roof. They standardized all the eave heights to give the roof volume that matched the size of the space. The examination room is the largest building, but it has no pillars.
- Project Duration
- Project duration did from February 2021 to April 2022.
Location is 3-13-22, Higashi Odakano, Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan. - Operation Flow
- Traditionally, dental clinics have an image of being scary and painful. TSC dispel that image and design the clinic architecture as a place where you can experience healing. You can experience nature as if you were walking along a green path, and the space that uses a lot of wood has a warm feeling. They hope that by creating a clinic where everyone can relax, it will not only be a place for medical care, but also healthy people will be able to receive medical care.
- Research
- TSC combined the height difference of the site with step-free access, which is a feature of hospital architecture, to create a building that offers a new experience. By walking along an corridor, the patient can feel the ground approaching and floating, even though the floor is flat. In addition, by taking advantage of the characteristics of the land, it not only protects the plants, but also contributes to the reduction of carbon dioxide generated during land development and construction costs.
- Inspiration
- The client wanted a clinic where patients could relax and look forward to their visits. He also liked the bamboo groves and loquat trees on the property. With a frontage of 17.5 meters and a depth of 49 meters and a height difference of 3 meters, the site was overgrown with various plants and the fields were abandoned. TSC wanted to design a clinic where patients can experience nature, taking advantage of the existing land's characteristics, rather than creating a flat land that is easy to use.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Photographer Hiroshi Tanigawa
Image #2: Photographer Hiroshi Tanigawa
Image #3: Photographer Hiroshi Tanigawa
Image #4: Photographer Hiroshi Tanigawa
Image #5: Photographer Hiroshi Tanigawa
Colors of Coexisting With Nature Clinic
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Nature-Integrated Architectural Design Services
We specialize in designing hospitals, clinics, and residences that harmoniously blend with nature. Our award-winning approach integrates existing vegetation, natural light, and local context to create healing spaces that make people feel positive and connected to their environment.
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