Office Design
Not Your Typical Doc in a Box
These practices make design statements about themselves by looking
outward. The chains can't touch this.
By Helen Bennett
It doesn’t always rain in the Pacific Northwest. But, if you have
an optometric office there, you’ll want to stay away from the blues
and grays for your décor.
That’s the advice interior designer Justine Kraft gave to optometrist
Rick McManus in Bellevue, Wash. He was planning to redesign his suburban
Seattle office, and needed some ideas.
What works in Seattle won’t work in, say, Phoenix. “Offices
in Arizona or New Mexico should pick cooler colors for contrast,”
says Ms. Kraft, who works with Ennco Display Systems of Redmond, Wash.
“Doctors in general tend to be nervous about introducing colors and
anything that isn’t perceived as clinical. So, choose colors carefully
because people get scared if you do something radically different for
the area.”
Your office’s geographical location can play an important role in
how you approach its design or redesign. Whether you’re in the Pacific
Northwest or Ohio’s Amish country, your surroundings can provide
inspiration for your office décor. Here is how five optometric
practices got new looks by playing off their surroundings.
A Northwest Thing
Ms. Kraft recalls how Dr. McManus originally wanted to redesign his 1,600-square-foot
office with light beige colors. She admits this would have been a step
up from the teal and mauve that had dominated the office, but still didn’t
pack enough punch for its upscale location. “So, we reconfigured
and updated everything, including carpet, paint and lighting,” Ms.
Kraft says. “Instead of beiges, we used sage-colored wood with rust-colored
accents, plus maple, and coordinated the carpeting to match the two-tone
paint.”
She didn’t stop there. Out came the chain lighting, and in went the
tract, curved ceiling lighting with pendant lights. Ms. Kraft describes
the look as “upscale, yet warm.” The project took eight months
and was completed in November 2000.
Ms. Kraft resorted to “North-west colors” of a different hue
when redesigning the 3,400-square-foot Roosevelt Vision Source, a stand-alone,
three-optometrist office in Seattle. This was an old, dark, hodge-podge,
gerbil-maze of an office. “Everything was tight and cluttered, making
it hard to move around the office,” Ms. Kraft says.
Working with a local architect and Ms. Kraft, the three doctors expanded
the building by 4 feet in the front and raised the ceilings from 9 to
12 feet. They added windows throughout. The “Northwest colors”—honey
caramel saga wood with earthy tones—made the place warm and inviting.
Embracing Mt. Nittany
Windows, along with circular patient flow patterns, can help alleviate
that crowded feeling in an office. Harvey Hanlen, O.D., and his four colleagues
in State College, Pa., kept this in mind when they built their 10,000-square-foot
facility, designed by EyeDesigns of Collegeville, Pa.
The emphasis was on state-of-the-art features along with a feeling of
openness in an area known as Happy Valley. A circular patient flow pattern
runs through the office. Each doctor has his or her own pre-testing pod.
The office has three exam rooms and a central contact lens area, and private
offices have views of Mount Nittany. A children’s exam room has an
adjacent viewing room, so parents can watch their children’s exams
without causing distractions.
EyeDesigns’ president Alan Winig admits that Dr. Hanlen’s office
is significantly larger than the typical project. The average optometric
office has 3,000-4,000 square feet, Mr. Winig says. “That’s
a good space to work with because you can have a nice optical, business
office, plenty of exam rooms, nice work-up and contact lens areas, and
ancillary testing rooms—without feeling as though you’ll outgrow
the space in six months,” he says.
Down-Home Feeling
Designer Barbara Wright of Barbara Wright Design in San Diego, Calif.,
worked on two optometric offices that wanted to focus on what she calls
that “at-home” feeling.
The office of Larry E. Waggoner, O.D., in the high desert of Lake Isabella,
Calif., has a lake view. His 3,000-square-foot space was redesigned to
showcase his extensive antiques collection. The first waiting room has
a wood-burning stove; a secondary room has an antique church pew. Throughout
the office, a classic burgundy, navy and beige color scheme compliments
plenty of oak moldings and woodwork. The office also has a soaring ceiling
with clerestory windows that fill the central reception area with light.
Ms. Wright’s goal: “It was designed to comfortably look like
a home converted to an office.”
The husband-wife team of James Conway, O.D., and Holly Conway, O.D., wanted
something similar for their office in Millersburg, Ohio. They opted for
a stylish but non-intimidating Americana look to fit in with the local
Amish culture.
First, Ms. Wright worked with a local architect to install larger windows
that make the dispensary visible from the street. The center section of
the dispensary ceiling was raised to feature hidden up-lighting and large
drop pendant fixtures.
Next, Ms. Wright chose Shaker-style wood cabinet doors throughout and
peg-hook molding in the reception area. The wall coverings feature checks,
stripes and tiny geometric prints. The scheme incorporates Dr. Holly Conway’s
favorite color, red, as an accent. The hallway features a large blue and
cream tablecloth check pattern. “The clients were apprehensive at
first about that tablecloth check pattern, but loved it once it was installed,”
Ms. Wright says.
The trick with colors is to avoid being trendy. “Designs are cyclical,
and you should avoid color combinations that mark a decade, such as the
mauves and grays symbolic of the 1980s,” says Mary Halperin, director
of interior design for EyeDesigns. “Use a classic look that will
stand the test of time for at least five years.” Contemporary themes
mix woods with colors. “Right now, most doctors are opting for neutral
shades, or using black, ivory, beige and a bit of gold, along with light,
clear maple or crown cherry woods,” Ms. Halperin says.
As these practices show, working with colors and design that play off
the surrounding elements—the climate, a prominent landmark or a folksy
feel—can make a unique statement that chains and clinics can’t
touch.
Ms. Bennett, former associate editor of Review of Optometry, writes
frequently about eye care. She’s based in Portland, Ore.
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