walk this way

2015

What if visiting your doctor was as easy as a walk in the park?

If health can be monitored without physical interaction with a doctor, a trip to the fitness center or spa, or even a stroll down the boardwalk may double as a check up, physical, or diagnostic procedure. A healthy environment—medically and socially—must be achieved without the overbearing atmosphere of sterility associated with traditional hospitals and health clinics. Private program such as laboratories, exam rooms, and changing rooms may be located discretely in the interstitial space, creating an environment that fosters well-being and encourages social interaction. The site endeavors to create an engaging outdoor space with program that fosters both solitary and collective activity. The health-related program has been atomized and distributed across the site, to provide for the discreet diversion of members to an examination room if their test results require a follow-up with a doctor or nurse. (So, not never, just less often.) Following this logic of distribution, the remaining program has been broken down and distributed along the main thoroughfare of the site, organized in clusters or phrases of related activities. The berm and swale landscaping language provides a way to script the progression of program, as well as providing privacy to the program nested among the landscape. Back of house program and parking is buried in the landscape. A standard “capping” object has been used in various orientations to create interior.