Studio Dental II

From the May 2019 Issue of ARCHITECT:

A new storefront for a forward-thinking dental practice provides a spa-like atmosphere for oral health.

Discussion of San Francisco’s rapid gentrification over the last two decades usually revolves around high-tech innovation, but Studio Dental proves that the culture of disruption can also be applied to oral health. To start, the company eliminated excuses for not going to the dentist by debuting a mobile clinic that can bring on-demand dental services to your office door. Now Studio Dental can also provide more regularized care for denizens of the city’s Twitter-anchored Mid-Market district, courtesy of a new permanent storefront designed by Santa Monica, Calif.– and Lausanne, Switzerland–based Montalba Architects.

Taking the client out of a truck and putting them into a Corinthian-columned Beaux-Arts beauty, the designers have nonetheless succeeded in creating an interior that seems a far cry from the drear and formality of the archetypical dentist’s office: Through the restored glass-fronted façade, passersby see a gleaming white screen standing just a few feet beyond the door that is composed of slanted panels with fluorescent bulbs tucked beneath them. Entering the space, visitors find a modest foyer trimmed with a miniature rock garden along the street-facing side; patients are then conducted along a stone-floored passage past built-in stone benches—one of them running clear into the heart of the office—marked off from the corridor by slender wooden slats and backed up by additional concealed lighting that enhances the space’s Zen-like tranquility. Exam rooms are discreetly tucked away inside wood-lined compartments, suggestive of a luxury day spa, while the warren-like plan is lent a beguiling amplitude by way of mirrors that make the narrow hallways seem to go on forever.

The client’s enterprising mission and Montalba Architects’ tasteful reserve have come together to create a valuable local amenity—one that doesn’t sacrifice style for service, but that brings both together to form an unusually harmonious synthesis.

Project Credits
Project: Studio Dental II, San Francisco
Client: Studio Dental
Architect: Montalba Architects, Los Angeles and Lausanne, Switzerland . David Montalba, FAIA (founding principal); Michael Knopoff, AIA (principal); Akiko Suzuki (associate principal); Jen Loesche (associate); Vicente Shum (designer)
M/E/P Engineer: Acies Engineering
Structural Engineer: Julia Y. Chen Design
General Contractor: Build Group
Lighting Designer: Sean O’Connor Lighting
Size: 1,400 square feet
Cost: Withheld

Materials and Sources
Building Management Systems /Services: Aiphone (video door station)
Carpet: Shaw Contract
Concrete: Concrete Collaborative (bench)
Flooring: Concrete Collaborative (public area flooring); Daltile (restroom)
Glass: Beeline Glass (storefront glass)
HVAC: LG
Lighting Control Systems: Wattstopper
Lighting: Hevi Light (downlights)
Masonry/Stone: Quartz (operatory and lab counter)
Metal: Pacific Westline (signage on lantern wall, mirror wall frame, coat hook)
Millwork: Pacific Westline (lantern wall, wood trellis, operatory room and lab cabinets, reception counter, full-height mirror walls, suspended digital screen element)
Paints/Finishes: Benjamin Moore
Plumbing/Water System: Kohler (sinks, faucets); Toto (toilet, lavatory)
Seating: Pacific Westline (wood and concrete bench); Concrete Collaborative (wood and concrete bench)
Site/Landscape Products: Crushed white pebbles
Structural System: Bannon Construction (structural steel)
Windows/Curtainwall/Doors: Florian Industries (storefront)

This project won a 2019 AIA Institute Honor Award for Interior Architecture

From the AIA:

In San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, this modern office is a brick and mortar location for a dentist who previously served the surrounding community through a mobile office. Reflecting the client’s progressive practice, it plays an active role in the revitalization of one of the city’s more troubled neighborhoods.

Located on the ground floor of a historic building, the marriage of history and a sleek, modern aesthetic creates a transcendent environment that evokes a gallery. The design hinges on a conceptual lantern that from within the building’s dark core emanates luminosity and transparency. Achieved through a series of wall panels that both light the building shell and brighten the storefront and street, the lantern provides privacy while enlivening the community.

In lieu of a waiting room, a park-like bench runs the length of the interior while wood trellises separate the bench and procedure rooms without closing off the space. Distinct moments of material contrast are experienced in the rough shell walls, smoked mirror panels, and a stand of maple monoliths that offer storage and indicate the entry to each patient room.

The team carefully preserved many of the building’s original elements, including the storefront, where original glazing proportions were restored, and the original marble bulkheads. The interior mezzanine was repurposed for additional storage and staff offices. Overall, the project celebrates and energizes the Tenderloin’s existing urban fabric.