Dr Kernagis Dental

Located between wetlands, a church and a suburban commercial development, the Dr Kernagis dental office is a 6,000 square feet medical office building. Programmatically, the building is broken in 3 parts for two tenants with a shared communal space. The communal space includes a lobby, waiting area with a beverage station, and a conference room. The primary tenant is a dental office with four treatment rooms and four hygiene rooms, laboratory, sterilization room, pano and other support spaces.

Contextually, the building connects spiritually to its site, providing a strong presence of nature. The internal and external pressures break the typical rectangular office box in 3 parts to invite visitors inside. The 2 external parts are angled to react to the streets and create a dynamic transition to the wetlands. The third part becomes the interstitial space connecting the visitors to the wetlands. The roof acts as a mediator and precursor to the experience of the visitors. Its strong angular shape opens the building to Fletcher Avenue and the wetlands on the opposite side. Angled steel columns dance with the surrounding trees. Geometric abstraction collides with natural elements, yet this collision revealed the site’s genius loci.

Nature fills the interior of the communal space through transparency. A variety of seating options, chairs, lounge chairs, bench, high chairs, invite to wait with nature still in mind. The treatment rooms are organized around the exterior with large fenestrations. The core contains all the work spaces with their machines working endlessly, engaging curiosity.

This dialogue between man and nature is also reflected on the materiality of the envelope, wood against cement, cement against stone. The horizontal wood planks wrap around the pure solid geometrical shapes, colliding with them and reclaiming them. Large fenestrations punctuate the wood cladding to afford visitors optimal views of nature, providing a serene atmosphere inside and out.