Telegraph avenue dental clinics

Location: Berkeley, CA
Owner: Berkeley Orthodontics, Aloha Dentists
Completion: Winter 2010

An established successful orthodontic practice, Berkeley Orthodontics and an extremely busy pediatric orthodontic, Aloha Pediatric Dentistry, relocated their offices to a small site on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. With only 6,070 square feet of site available, fitting two modern dental offices to meet current codes became quite a challenge. The 4,408 square foot building is two stories tall with one dental practice on each floor.

The building is on a commercial street with many older, nondescript buildings. With such a small site, maximizing the usable area for the practices was important while maintaining a timeless and energetic design. The upper floor takes advantage of the potential for ceiling height by bringing in northern light to the main clinic area thus bringing in abundant soft natural light. The lower floor takes a similar tact using the northern side for lighting of the clinic area. The play with the volumes of the building helps minimize the bulk and provide some distinguishing characteristics for both offices to provide them with their own identities.

The interior had to be inviting, warm and non-institutional and also serve the highly technical and complex interaction between patients, doctors and the staff. The equipment, some new and some relocated from existing practices, had to be coordinated and placed in the proper place with utilities to serve them. Extensive use of wood and translucent material brings warmth and light to the two clinics.