KinderDentist

KINDERDENTIST
Berlin, Germany

What can children expect when they visit their dentist? A white, cold, sterile world with no relationship to the playful environments they are used to.
This dental clinic, specialized on the treatment of young patients, started the design process from the opposite side of the spectrum, the indoor playground. We created an underwater world that invites the children to come in, play and let their imagination go wild. A 12 foot wave welcomes them from the outside world, carrying them directly to the reception counter. This wave, vibrant with patterns in different tones of blue, connects and reveals the upper and lower levels of the clinic. It invites you to the waiting room and reception in the lower level and opens up windows into the treatment rooms upstairs. All areas follow the same theme of the underwater experience with their color, architectural and spatial elements. Patterns of pixilated schools of fish connect all treatment rooms. The silver upholstery in the waiting rooms is reminiscent of submarines. The waiting, as well as the treatment itself can be turned into a playful experience. In this way the attitude towards the usually feared dentist can be changed from an early age on. The young customers never have to leave the happy underwater world and can enjoy this completely new experience of a visit to the dentist.

GRAFT is a full service architectural firm located in Los Angeles, Berlin, and Beijing. Our collective professional experience encompasses a wide array of building types including Hospitality Design, Fine Arts, Educational, Institutional, Commercial and Residential facilities. The firm has won numerous awards in Europe as well as in the United States.

GRAFT was established in 1998 in Los Angeles, California by Lars Kr?ckeberg, Wolfram Putz and Thomas Willemeit. Alejandra Lillo became a partner at Graft LA in 2007. Graft later opened offices in Berlin, Germany in 2001 as well as in Bejing, China in 2005 with Gregor Hoheisel as a partner.

GRAFT was conceived as a ?Label? for Architecture, Urban Planning, Exhibition Design, Music and the ?pursuit of happiness?. Since the firm was established, it has been commissioned to design and manage a wide range of projects in multiple disciplines and locations. With the core of the firm?s enterprises gravitating around the field of architecture and the built environment, GRAFT has always maintained an interest in crossing the boundaries between disciplines and ?grafting? the creative potentials and methodologies of different realities. This is reflected in the firm?s expansion into the fields of music, car design, art installations, academic projects and ?eventings? as well as in the variety of project locations in Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Italy, France and in the U.S. and Mexico.

With a staff of talented architectural professionals and administrators, GRAFT has the resources and technology necessary to execute a project from programming to design and through construction, including construction documents, construction administration, and governmental agency review phases. GRAFT has rigorously undertaken an increasing role in programming, master-planning and urban design. Additionally, our firm maintains successful relationships, as needed, with associate architectural and engineering firms and specialty consultants.