• Location
    Abbotsford
  • Status
    Complete
  • Type
    Commercial
  • Size
    125sqm
  • Internal Area
    110sqm
  • Team
    Rob Kennon, Maia Cookson
  • Collaborators
    GMAKCON Pty Ltd, Vert Engineering, Metro Building Surveying
  • Photographer
    Derek Swalwell
  • Awards
    AIA National Architecture Awards - The Dentist , AIA Victorian Architecture Awards - The Dentist (Named Award Winner)
  • Publications
    The Dentist by Rob Kennon Architects
  • Tags
    Medical , Small, Heritage, Inner City, Brick

The project is located on a corner site, mediating between the sometimes-busy Nicholson and Yarra St, a quieter, one-way street with rows of terrace houses. It faces the challenge of addressing its longer, side elevation and how this interfaces with the adjacent terrace houses as well as the narrowness of the site.

Being a dentist, the addition required universal access which meant finding a location for a 9m long ramp to align the addition with the raised heritage building. Due to the size of the site - a 12mx4.3m zone – this quickly became the biggest constraint. It then became the backbone of the project, and we designed the dentist around a ramp.

With the existing heritage dwelling, the streetscape, and public realm in mind – we decided to wrap the ramp around the back of the site and push the envelope of the new building to the face of the street. The new addition peels away from the neighbouring terrace houses, creating a discrete entry using the gap between the two. The ramp is built from the same bitumen as the footpath, signifying a continuation of the public realm as it snakes around the building.

[3] Careful sequencing of spaces from arrival to reception, to waiting room, to consulting rooms, was embedded into the planning of this project. Consulting spaces occupy the front rooms of the existing dwelling and the natural threshold between the old and the new fabric becomes a point of screening
1/4
[1] The ramp wraps around the back of the site and pushes the envelope of the new addition to the face of the street
[4] A plywood interior that is visually connected to the street challenges the cold and clinical stereotype of dental practices, in favour of a more comfortable and personal experience – akin to that of ‘the local’
[2] The new addition peels away from the neighbouring terrace houses, creating a discrete entry using the gap between the two. The ramp is built from the same bitumen as the footpath, signifying a continuation of the public realm as it snakes around the building

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