Table Architecture: Located on the first floor of a century-old building in Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grâce district, the Monkland Orthodontic Clinic explores the concept of domesticity in a commercial setting. The project steers away from austere clinical aesthetics in favor of something warm, friendly and welcoming, a neighborhood spot.
Particular attention is paid to the entrance, seen as a living room, with its original brick fireplace and seating. As patients are often children accompanied by their parents, the design maximizes seating with long, custom-made velvet banquettes wrapping the space. The custom reception desk is reminiscent of a mid-century credenza. Lined in walnut dowels, the petite piece sits up off the floor on legs and curves to both sides.
An open corridor leads to an enfilade of rooms, echoing the building's original layout; technical equipment on one side, consultation rooms on the other. The fluted glass partitions reveal the subsequent uses of the enfilade, while maintaining a sense of privacy and lightness in the clinic's intimate spaces. In the consultation rooms, the emphasis is on the ceilings, with patients lying down with their eyes turned towards them. Their design is therefore warm and soothing, with wooden panels concealing electromechanical and dental equipment. White oak accompanies the visitor's journey - floors, built-in furniture, trims, ceiling - punctuated by contrasting walnut elements.
The intervention reuses and requalifies the interior spaces of this heritage architecture. The juxtaposition of the requirements of modern medical practice with those of the original timber frame and load bearing masonry walls generates unique solutions, both in the structural interventions and in the organization of the program. The design pays subtle homage to the building's past, incorporating details inspired by historic interiors.
