Yellow linear lights, and contemporary art, seem to glow against the resin paint of the passageway walls.
Yellow linear lights, and contemporary art, seem to glow against the resin paint of the passageway walls.

January 12, 2022

Words: Jesse Dorris

Photography: Chao Zhang, Canhui Luo

DA Integrating Limited Transforms a Shenzhen Dental Clinic into a Work of Art

The dentist office is a place many people rarely want to even visit, nevermind linger. But DA Integrating Limited is out to change minds with a 5,800-square-foot clinic for the U-DENTAL chain in the mixed-use community One Shenzhen Bay.  

“We were inspired by the atmosphere of the contemporary art space,” says design director Chinman Ngai, “which is like a container: peaceful, comfortable, a place in which people want to stop and stay.” The foyer empties into a waiting area where guests are framed like subjects in a painting, before entering into a passage loop illuminated by linear fixtures. A rectangular plane unites consulting and operating rooms, with ample glazing to allow natural light to filter through landscaping and warm up the otherwise neutral palette of white and beige. And the dental chain’s U-shaped logo appears in curved details within ceilings, emphasized by recessed lights to remind patients of a clean, white smile. 

A green marble desk defines the airy reception area.
A green marble desk defines the airy reception area.
In the center of a wall in reception, a carved-out section frames a waiting area.
In the center of a wall in reception, a carved-out section frames a waiting area.
The consulting room’s white-on-white palette and geometric furnishings echo an art gallery.
The consulting room’s white-on-white palette and geometric furnishings echo an art gallery.
A curtain wall brings bright, calming views of exterior greenery into consulting and operating rooms.
A curtain wall brings bright, calming views of exterior greenery into consulting and operating rooms.
Yellow linear lights, and contemporary art, seem to glow against the resin paint of the passageway walls.
Yellow linear lights, and contemporary art, seem to glow against the resin paint of the passageway walls.
Bathrooms appear like secondary galleries off the art-filled passageways.
Bathrooms appear like secondary galleries off the art-filled passageways.
The clinic’s U-shaped logo appears among the ceiling’s chamfered corners.
The clinic’s U-shaped logo appears among the ceiling’s chamfered corners.
The yellow linear fixtures serve both as wayfinding and ambient light.
The yellow linear fixtures serve both as wayfinding and ambient light.

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