Dental chain Aqua Dental is opening clinics in four new locations in collaboration with Stadsrum Fastigheter. All clinics have been designed by Specific Generic, a design studio led by the internationally renowned architect Andreas Bozarth Fornell, who has designed flagship stores around the world for fashion brands such as Acne, Kenzo, and DKNY. Thus, the four new establishments go far beyond the usual framework for how typical dental facilities are designed.
Aqua Dental is opening four new clinics in Västerås, Uppsala, Helsingborg, and Stockholm (Farsta). The openings are expected to take place during Q4 2021 and Q1 2022. The new establishments are part of the company's significant growth initiative, which also includes growth through acquisitions. Aqua Dental has grown from three clinics in 2016 to 20 clinics this autumn. All four new establishments are made in partnership with Stadsrum Fastigheter. The brief to the creative director Andreas Bozarth Fornell and his studio Specific Generic, known for their collaborations with prestigious fashion brands around the world, was to design "the world's finest dental clinics."
"Having Aqua Dental and Specific Generic coming into our properties with creative excellence and world-class ambition makes this a truly prestigious collaboration for us. Everyone wants to work with partners who contribute to innovative urban development, but it's hard to imagine a more interesting case than this, where they tackle a clinical environment with innovation and creativity," says Evalena Engström at Stadsrum Fastigheter.
The premises are designed with an environment and design language developed with the idea that the patient should feel they are in a calm and welcoming environment, more like a hotel or salon environment. Aqua Dental's vision is to modernize the dental care experience, including by designing its clinics in innovative ways. The collaboration with Specific Generic, which has designed Kenzo's flagship store in Milan, DKNY's in New York, and many of Acne's stores around the world, is a way to take that thinking to the next level.
"We have drawn inspiration from boutique hotels and fashion stores rather than dental clinics. The goal is to create a welcoming, safe, and beautiful environment that takes the mind far away from traditional healthcare facilities that many associate with dental visits, and to do so in a way that is unparalleled. By setting a different tone through the premises, we also hope to alleviate the dental fear that a significant proportion of visitors experience," says Niklas Virta at Aqua Dental.
Dental clinics generate significant visitor throughput and imply long-termity compared to a regular retail opening, where tenant turnover is higher.
"It was incredibly exciting to venture into a different world than where we usually operate, and to tackle the task with such great creative freedom. In dentistry, the environment has traditionally been questioned very little. Here, we have instead questioned a lot," says Andreas Bozarth Fornell.
Source: Aqua Dental - https://www.aquadental.se/
