STUDIO : GAMEIRO

LONGEVITY CLINIC

The Client sought to add a new clinic to their existing group of clinics, focused solely on physiotherapy and longevity. Innovative treatments are offered not only for disease prevention, but also to improve the quality of one’s body and soul for a longer and healthier life span.

‘Life well spent is long’ Da Vinci once said, and it is this ethos that the clinic expects its customers to fully embrace.

From a large and well-lit reception and waiting area there are two main operative units, each with their own complimentary areas. An open physiotherapist space has adjacent treatment rooms, and an integrative medicine space includes six consultation rooms and a yoga studio which can double as a conference room.

The concept is related to the marriage of a modern holistic medicine with an innovative diagnostic process. The design is retro-futuristic, allied to the progressive designs and science fiction influences of the 1960s and 1970s. There is a nod to the origin of modern wellbeing industries from California, but the use of organic shapes, earthy and warm colours, soft textures and a freedom of flow provide a counter-response to modern social and environmental stresses.

The use of plants offers a privacy screen for the front windows as well as bringing freshness and enhancing the natural and organic character of the spaces.

Also Fátima, where the clinic is located, is a pilgrimage destination well-known worldwide, where people come to pray and meditate. We wanted to extend that peaceful atmosphere indoors.

Most of the furniture was custom-made for this clinic. The waiting room chairs, called Capsule Armchairs, were a collaboration with the textile designer Teresa Gameiro. Simple geometric forms have been put together with locally woven recycled fabrics, to provide a comfortable yet distinctive ‘throne-chair’, enhancing the idea of the singularity of each patient. The patient waits within their own capsule, ready to embark on a journey of self discovery. The chairs align in the waiting room, first and foremost to enjoy the natural light from the large windows and the planted privacy screen, but also enhance the futuristic feeling, as if on board a spacecraft ready to explore unknown realms.

LOCATION

Fátima, Portugal

TYPOLOGY

Health, Commercial

INTERVENTION

Fit-out

STATUS

Built, 2019

DESIGN

João Gameiro

PHOTOGRAPHY

Tiago Casanova

COLLABORATIONS

Teresa Gameiro (chairs design); Dylan Silva (art work); Constantinos (steelwork); Candelar (lacquering); Reviourem (plasterwork); Vidraceiros (glasswork); Acacio&Filho (pavement); Mr.Joaquim (paintworks); ArtSofa (upholstering)