Smiles Abound At This Design-Forward Dental Firm

Paris Dental Studios launched in its namesake city in 2021, offering an elevated oral-examination experience through a design-forward, wellness-centered space conceived by local firm JCPCDR Architecture. The très chic result has been so successful that PDS has since expanded to other French locales: opening in Aix-en-Provence earlier this year and now Lyon.

Occupying the ground floor of a 19th-century building, the concept for the 3,250-square-foot clinic is based on inserting modern “micro-architectures” within the historic shell, which had an atypical plan and a high ceiling. “The volume allowed for something bold and a play on scale,” explains JCPCDR founder and chief architect Jean-Christophe Petillault, who attended two years of medical school before switching to his current profession. Four 215-square-foot pods, each containing an exam room and finished with textured white lime plaster and fluted glass on the exterior, sleek aluminum and blush-pink Corian inside, recall astronomical observatories. That pink first appears by reception, another similarly domed form, in Faye Toogood’s Roly Poly chairs for waiting patients. “It’s a peaceful color and reminds me of healthy gums,” Petillault says of the hue. Sammode’s simple Elgar sconces are installed as straight as Invisalign-ed teeth behind them; poured in place concrete flooring runs underneath. Lush plantings spill over the pods adding a biophilic element. “The intimacy in the units is reassuring,” Petillault adds, “while outside feels like a retro-futuristic garden.”