For our 25th anniversary, we are sharing a project from 25 years ago: the Dental Clinic Halley. Lyongo Juliana designed this building on Sint Maarten back in 1999. The building was completed in 2005. The client, Marlon Halley, previously worked from a home-based practice and needed a new building.
“This dental practice is located on quite steep terrain. By viewing the site you saw that there was a beautiful view of the lagoon and the hills of the island. I decided to make a design that included a space on the ground floor that could be rented out. The dental practice is above it, so that users and visitors could fully enjoy the view.” Because of the slope of the terrain, we were still able to create a threshold free entrance while having the clinic on the on the upper floor, hence complying with the accessibility requirement.
Removing anxiety
The design is all about putting the user first. Many people have some form of fear of the dentist. We wanted to remove that by paying extra attention to certain aspects. This is why we made the treatment rooms soundproof. So that you are not bothered by the sound of the drill in the waiting room. When you enter in one of the treatment rooms, you have a beautiful view of the lagoon and the hills through the glass facade. The purpose of this was to provide distraction from what is happening in the treatment room.
Research for the design
Before creating the design, Lyongo had studied the technology required in a dental practice. For example, for the pipes needed for a patient chair. We also created a separate drain for disposing the used material, with its own tank. That material is not allowed to simply go into the ground, according to the regulations. These are some examples of what you delve into when you create a building with a specific purpose.
Resistance and sustainability
The building has its own water basin, in which rainwater is collected. That water is reused in practice. In addition, the building is hurricane-proof. It has an emergency power generator; so that it can be operational again immediately after a hurricane. The building has withstood all hurricanes in the past 20 years.
