Curved geometry is mirrored in the floor pattern and ceiling in the hallway of the clinic.
Curved geometry is mirrored in the floor pattern and ceiling in the hallway of the clinic.

September 30, 2021

Words: Jen Renzi

Photography: Maciej Język / ONI Studio

FAAB Architektura Conceives of a Cutting-Edge Fertility Clinic in Wrocław, Poland

Based in Poland, Invicta takes a holistic approach to women’s fertility, offering patients a full suite of diagnostic services and state-of-the-art treatments—from gynecology and genetics to IVF and psychology—under one roof. The company’s new 9,000-square-foot clinic in the southwest city of Wrocław encompasses consultation and treatment rooms, an outpatient hospital (complete with operating theater for laparoscopic procedures), and high-tech laboratories to support IVF, ICSI, and the like. Hired to oversee the facility’s design, FAAB Architektura took inspiration from the patients it serves: those seeking—and succeeding from—fertility treatments. The Warsaw practice created a sensitive and conceptually sound scheme that subtly nods to the transformative aspects of pregnancy, firm cofounders Adam Białobrzeski and Adam Figurski explain: “Curved geometry characteristic of the female body during the prenatal development of a child—the tension of abdominal skin and caused by fetal movement—determined the character of the interior.”

The reception and waiting area at Invicta, a women’s fertility specialist and health clinic in Wrocław, Poland, introduces the design’s emphasis on curves.
The reception and waiting area at Invicta, a women’s fertility specialist and health clinic in Wrocław, Poland, introduces the design’s emphasis on curves.

This idea plays out in the form of sinuous elements and environmental graphics that embellish all surfaces of the waiting areas and public corridors: backlit stretch-ceiling treatments, two-tone heterogeneous flooring, glossy gold paint. (The latter was executed by FAAB team members after they were unable to find a contractor who could transfer the graphic templates to the walls and ceilings.) A juxtaposition of translucent and opaque, matte and reflective, gold and silver creates further dynamism and a tone of optimism.

A testament to the success of the design, some 69 couples successfully received fertility treatment in just the first few months since the ribbon cutting. And the clinic’s purview expanded to take on a public health role during the pandemic, switch-hitting as a COVID-19 vaccination site for locals.

  • Patient treatment rooms have herringbone faux wood floors—actually rendered in homogeneous surfacing by Gerflor.
    Patient treatment rooms have herringbone faux wood floors—actually rendered in homogeneous surfacing by Gerflor.
  • Ottomans in the public waiting areas mimic the physical form of the pregnant body.
    Ottomans in the public waiting areas mimic the physical form of the pregnant body.
  • Wall and floor tiles in the bathrooms reiterate the gold-tone color palette.
    Wall and floor tiles in the bathrooms reiterate the gold-tone color palette.
Backlit stretched ceiling treatments from Barrisol function as lighting fixtures and continue the fluid lines of the environmental graphics, executed in glossy paint.
Backlit stretched ceiling treatments from Barrisol function as lighting fixtures and continue the fluid lines of the environmental graphics, executed in glossy paint.
The clinic includes an operating theater used for minimally invasive laparoscopic procedures.
The clinic includes an operating theater used for minimally invasive laparoscopic procedures.

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