Projects

DENTAL PRACTICE, MERCHANT CITY, GLASGOW

Ferguson & Glover (Dental Surgeons)

The site is within the ground floor of the ‘B’ listed former Sheriff Courthouse in a conservation area of the Merchant City and had been occupied previously by a lighting showroom. The brief included a generous reception / waiting area, surgery rooms, an interview room, x-ray room, a local decontamination unit, toilet, staff kitchen, plant room and storage facilities.

With an existing unconventional trapezoidal site footprint and irregular glazing-wall-structural column rhythm, the required relationship between various parts of the brief resulted in a subtly twisted arrangement of forms within the new plan layout: To the building user however the interior appears to merge as a cohesive and fluid series of spaces.

Dynamic ceiling and ramp forms contain lighting and a busy services system but also differentiate between intimate and more open spaces, ie between the circulation and surgery rooms or between the reception and waiting area. The ceiling and ramp geometry also relates to a new diagonal circulation axis through the site against an existing public diagonal axis, which cuts through the whole urban block. The integration of what is a very clean, sharp and new function into the historic fabric of the Courthouse was an exciting challenge and where possible we allowed the old and the new to be viewed honestly side by side.

The refurbishment won the 2017 Scottish Dental Awards ‘Style’ category which aims to showcase beautiful surroundings that help patients and staff enjoy their time at the practice. The judges were looking for stunning practices that are the very epitome of style and wow patients and amaze passers by with its design and architecture.