Hopkins & Clarke

The idea is that the space is carved out of a solid element [white plasterboard] as the ‘as found element’. This cutting/slicing continues through the development of the section. The folding elements conceal the services and lighting from view and produce a series of volumes and scales in a very small space.

It was critical that the space did not have a retail aesthetic but responded to its own unique form of expression as a private medical facility. The waiting space, with the seats forming a part of the edge, creates a comfortable environment for patients to wait in and also have a sense of ownership of the territory they occupy.

In this project it was important to deal with the fundamentals of occupation of the space. Shape planning – a common interiors planning device – was avoided to allow the section, and in a sense the variety of spaces in a single volume, to describe use and occupation.