The OmniDirectional Internal Medicine Clinic

Press Kit

Unique Properties

The Omnidirectional is an internal medicine clinic designed to emphasize the specialty of the doctor, the endoscopy. The building is constructed using wooden structure in a standard Japanese grid. The endoscopy room occupied the center of the clinic both spatially and functionally and was made visible from the waiting room through a glazed wall behind the reception counter. The square shape of the clinic was placed laterally and its sides in stairs form resulting in a unified appearance.

Dimensions & Packaging

Gross Built Area: 203sqm
W20238mm x D20238mm x H3639mm

Tags

Japan, clinic, medical, OSB, wood, cement, geometrical, square, endoscopy, minimalism

Production Technology

The building is constructed using wooden structure in the form of a standard Japanese grid. To make the contrast between the interior and the exterior, the outside was covered in a newly created fiber cement panels. The interior walls were made using OSB panels and kept without any finish to create the warm wooden atmosphere. The floor was made using vinyl tiles with the same OSB motif printed. The endoscopy room was finished in white wallpaper and vinyl floor.

Design Challenge

The biggest challenge for this project was the very tight budget limiting the use of materials to the simplest and cheapest ones. The wooden structure was chosen as the most affordable construction system, followed by using OSB panels as a solution for using the cheapest product, unfinished and yet give character to the space. then the challenge was to counterbalance the OSB aesthetic with other materials both outside and inside, and how this would help emphasizing the endoscopy room.

Project Duration

Project start: August 2019.
Construction start: February 2020.
Project/Construction End: July 2020.

Location: Taishi, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.

Operation Flow

The entrance gives directly to the center of the waiting room where the reception desk is located. The endoscopy room visible through glass separation located behind the reception occupies the central part of the space. the waiting space gives to the examination area to the right and the treatment area to the left. these two spaces are both connected through the endoscopy room and through the backyard behind making a full space circulation.

Research

The research in this project was mainly focused on finding the possibilities to highlight the endoscopy room as the center piece of the clinic. The relationship between the different entities functionally and spatially, and how the ensemble could merge in a unified space. the research goes further into employing materiality to achieve aesthetic but also functional roles. How to make space transition using materiality and yet keeping the unity and coherence.

Inspiration

This design was inspired by the central functionality of the endoscopy in the doctor method, while compared to the geometrical properties of a square. The operational diagram makes clear connections with the disposition of spaces and the functional relation between each of them.

Image Credits

Image #1: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf, The OmniDirectional, 2020.
Image #2: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf, The OmniDirectional, 2020.
Image #3: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf, The OmniDirectional, 2020.
Image #4: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf, The OmniDirectional, 2020.
Image #5: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf, The OmniDirectional, 2020.

Colors of The OmniDirectional Internal Medicine Clinic

Get The OmniDirectional Internal Medicine Clinic