This healthcare center is the first facility designed solely for the combined practice of alternative treatments and conventional medicine. The woodland setting is integral to the design as befits a program in which nature and technology coexist.
The indirect exterior lighting reflects the warm glow of the natural materials while articulating the architectural composition: the entry, the circular library (seen to the far right), and the peaked glass roof of the interior meditation room (seen in the background behind the colonnade).
The illumination of the domed entry canopy is produced by 70W 3000K metal halide in-grade adjustable uplights with integral baffles to reduce glare form the source. Located close to the corner piers the warm flood uplighting highlights the wood material while providing a welcoming atmosphere and a comfortable light level.
Behind the domed entryway, the wooden ceilings of the connecting exterior corridors are indirectly lit from the 3000K metal halide sconces mounted on the building sidewall.
Located at the center of the facility and flanked by the treatment rooms, a peaked glass and wood covered garden courtyard is a quiet meditation area. Planted with a garden and with a water wall at one end, the courtyard also features the arched wooden truss work seen along the entry loggia and in the circular library. Two different moods can be created for this quiet room. By day dimmable 3000K fluorescent coves located along the perimeter above the treatment room doors give an uplifting feel to the space.
The upper cove, located below the clerestory windows and hidden behind the wood trellis, is a dual switched fluorescent asymmetric linear strip, containing one row of white and one row of blue lamps.
At night, the blue fluorescent lamps can be switched on, creating a dramatically changed mood and lower light level. Low-voltage mono-points with violet tinted lenses accent the garden rock features. At the end of the room, MR16 wallwashers located on both sides of the water wall create sparkle. The space is controlled by a preset dimming system.
At the corner of the building is the circular library/sitting room illuminated with the same indirect lighting of the warm natural materials that are used throughout the Center.
Here, arched wooden trusses overhead suggest a canopy of tree branches that filters the sunlight by day. Simulating the sun at the top, fluorescent fixtures located behind a circular diffuser give an ambient glow day and night. Located on the horizontal beams, mono-points with 35W, 3000K, PAR30 metal halide lamps graze up the wood trellis around the room.
The glass walls of the room and the gentle illumination of the warm interiors, blurs the distinction between indoors and out. This reinforces the Center's mission: to approach healthcare as a holistic endeavor that embraces the mind, body, and spirit.
