Usually the clinic is a place you would like to leave as soon as possible: arbitrary, impersonal and almost no architectural qualities. Smartvoll architects (based in Vienna) demonstrate there is also another way to deal with the medical atmosphere with the new ordination at Währinger Gürtel (Vienna). The architecture reflects and strengthens the philosophy of the doctor’s team: To face the patient as a valued customer.

The patient as a consumer – not as a number. This is the moto of the private, internist praxis since its opening in October 2014. The ordination is located at the Währinger Gürtel in the 9th district of Vienna. To come up to this motto, the architecture is a fundamental element: Understood as an average to take away fears, build up confidence and to show appreciation. Not to forget: The architectural composition also shows the quality of medical services outwards.

Responsible for that are Philipp Buxbaum and Christian Kircher from smartvoll architects. In close collaboration with the clients – two young doctors who became self-employed with the ordination – a concept, that totally adjusts to the patient’s needs, was constructed. An important aspect is to prevent frontal situations. Already at the foyer there is an info point instead of a reception desk. There is not a central waiting room. In front of every room the patient can sit in a comfortable and discreet areas and from where they can get to the clinic directly. The communication happens face to face on eye level: “The doctor and the patient sit down together on a table and have a conversation. We also took in mind that the chairs are the same – not to have the doctor sitting on a wingchair and the patient on a footstool.”, the architects explain.

The barrier-free entrance to the ordination was relocated from the main street to a side street for discretion, which solves the disadvantage of the ordination’s location. Except from the entrance – where the contact to the outside is important – curtains surround the rooms. The “introverted” system, away from big streets, creates an intimate, saved atmosphere, additionally emphasized by the warm tone of the floor’s parquet. Essential for the whole concept is also the dramaturgy of light. The entrance is transparent and lightened, on the way to the rooms and offices the light gets a darker. Inside of the rooms there is warm light to relax the patients.

The new ordinations’ composition brings additional benefits not only for the patients. The architecture serves as a unique feature and as an instrument for the owner’s positioning, also compared to the competitors.