Impress Milano Dental Clinic by Raul Sanchez Architects.

Quickly becoming a bit of a maverick on the Yellowtrace pages, Raul Sanchez returns with a new genre-bending dentist office that promises to make those bi-yearly visits a little more fun. Located in Milan, the design moves away from cliches, taking a more theatrical approach to the usual aseptic clinic.

Housed within a neoclassical facade, pedestrians feel like voyeurs as they pass the shop front windows, peeking dramatic curtains and shiny red floors. Inside, the entire program has been resolved through a defining gesture that organises all the areas. A single pine wood curve runs along the interior, sheltering all the functional spaces. The outer arena, viewable from the street, functions as the waiting room and reception area.

The curve doubles as a reference to the Impress logo, a motif Sanchez repeated with the curtains, subtly enclosing the small spaces that function as sales points. Clad with red carpet walls and matching furniture, this is becoming a familiar visual signature for the designer that ties the office to its sister project Impress Valencia.

Related: A Nod to David Lynch: Impress Valencia Dental Clinic by Raúl Sánchez Architects.

Zones are delineated via the curve as colours shift, reds turning to white as you move further into the interior forming a transition between different ambiences, indicated by the changing material code. All ceiling elements are rotated 45º and mirrors clad doors, furthering the clinic’s dreamlike complexity. While it can’t all be fun and games; the more serious spaces such as dressing, sterilisation and staff rooms find their place in the basement.

Raul Sanchez architects is an award-winning architecture and design practice based in Barcelona. Since 2005 the eponymously named studio has developed a professional activity that escapes specialization, dipping their toes into all types of work and projects related to architecture, interiors, urbanism, design, and resources, ideas and techniques management. Regardless of the type, scale, location or budget, every new work is (clearly) a new challenge.

Related: The Urban Dentist in Berlin by Studio Karhard.

[Images courtesy of Raul Sanchez Architects. Photography by Helenio Barbetta.]