Description

One may wonder whether aging should be seen as a medical condition, though every once in a while medicine presents new therapies that allegedly work wonders for longevity. While eternal life may not be an option, methods to counteract the unpleasant effects of old age may be within reach – although most old age problems are the product of unhealthy lifestyles in the past. Exploring strategies for coping with age-related medical problems is one of the goals of Chaum

The Anti-Aging Center is located within an existing 65,000 m² mixed-use building and part of a medical network. The building is on a medical campus, next to a residential tower. The project’s program consists of a combination of a diagnostics center, medical spa, fitness and health counseling, dietary and nutritional training and advanced tissue storage and gene therapy. While it houses highly advanced research specialists and imaging equipment, overall Chaum conveys the impression of a luxurious health club and also works that way: visitors can get an annual membership to use its services. The mission of the clinic is to help their customers to slow down aging by preventive measures. Situated on the second and third floors of an existing building, Chaum’s clinicians begin a process of diagnostic examinations, starting with take-in conversations in translucent circular rooms. Visitors are then assigned a private honeycomb-inspired ‘hive cell’, where they stay in comfortable privacy throughout their diagnosis. The cells stand out from the wood-paneled walls with sleek, patterned panels marking their outside and they interlock with one another across the floor. The spaces in between continue the play of curved lines that is the design’s signal feature. The floors above accommodate the health club, featuring wooden floor and wood-paneled walls accented by a black ceiling with large, circular lamps, adding a five-star hotel quality. The spa, with its indoor and outdoor pools, is the only part of Chaum not dominated by warm colors and materials: here the aesthetic is sleek, modern and cool.

The floors of the center are connected by a central atrium that is encaged in a trellis-like wooden shrine. Every part looks immaculate and clean, yet warm and friendly, and the architecture has an organic feel.

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Originally published in: Cor Wagenaar, Noor Mens, Guru Manja, Colette Niemeijer, Tom Guthknecht, Hospitals: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2018.