The Aeichi Korean Medical Clinic is a small clinic in Yongin, a large city south of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Korean artworks are characterised by its naturalistic bent, simplicity, shape economy, and avoidance of extremes. In Korea, a sharply curved Chinese roof was replaced with a softly sloping roof. Sharp angles, bold lines, steep surfaces, and vivid colours are avoided. It typically exudes inner serenity. There is a deliberate effort to define the room in a traditional palette while remaining current.The hospital provides a variety of traditional Korean medicinal therapies.Korean medicine differs from Western medicine in several ways. originates in Chinese traditional medicine, but Korean has its own variant that is widely utilised, legal, and popular in Korea.Acupuncture and Sasang constitutional medicine are two traditional remedies. Acupuncture is an important part of traditional Korean medicine. Seog Be Seog’s mission was to create an environment in which patients could be open and honest about their health problems.
Hospitals, clinics, and dentist offices are all examples of healthcare facilities. Most people wince just thinking about these places, let alone visiting them. The discomfort and the dread connected with such facilities are understandable; enduring therapy or receiving terrible news from a stranger when an individual is most vulnerable is an unpleasant experience. However, if the atmosphere is created intelligently, these visits do not have to be as intimidating.
Design Philosophy
The clinic’s design concept demonstrates the use of the building’s structure as an aesthetically pleasing element. They wished to convey that the ‘Aeichi Korean Medical Clinic’ should be simple and honest without using flowery addition.
They aimed to divide the area using objects to keep the open idea of the space and to allow natural light to infiltrate the space without disrupting the day-to-day operations of the location, as well as to recognise the changes of the day in the space.
Where appropriate, wall partitions are used, and the studio was creative to maximise the openness of the space. With the open portion, the emotional connection between individuals is strong, and a sympathetic relationship is developed.
In Seog Be Seog words, he has been a space designed for decades, and he realised that connections with people, and everything that happens in those interactions, are critical. And he believes ’empathy’ is the channel that connects everything in relationships. When he initially met with the customer, they had a lengthy conversation. After choosing to work together, they talked several times, and the customer shared several anecdotes. The nature of their employment and patients were the major themes of their stories at the time. He got the impression that he wanted something of his to be highlighted with another person and that he also wanted to empathise with something of another person. The more encounters we had, the more he realised that rather than being coerced, convinced, or comprehended, things that can be felt in the heart and soak in organically create a longer-lasting imprint. He began creating with the hopes that the room would become a location where patients visiting the oriental medicine clinic would feel at ease and be able to discuss anything concerning them. Even if we live in a time where brief and powerful pictures are abundant, the things that come to mind from time to time or that we remember are the familiar things that we absorb without even realising them. And he hopes that ‘Aeichi Korean Medical Clinic,’ which helped him realise that his profession as a space designer has poured in naturally to him, would become a familiar yet long-lasting environment for many people.
Materials and Details
A Seog Be Seog combines warm materials and calming colours to create a sense of familiarity within the Aeichi Korean Medical Clinic.”New and exciting materials continue to emerge,” Seog explained, “but I thought familiar and friendly materials corresponded better with the clinic’s message.”
A welcoming waiting area has an open-plan concept with exposed concrete ceilings and white walls. Using a curved glass wall at the entry, as well as furniture and fixtures such as an open-frame storage system and an extended kitchen counter with bar stool seating, different zones inside the space are segregated while retaining the sensation of openness. Translucent timber-frame screens cover the windows, decreasing glare from direct sunlight but enabling light to penetrate the space all day.
The transparent screens surround a raised timber platform in the corner of the room beside the window, offering a private spot for peaceful meditation.
As designers and architects, we can significantly influence how people interact with a space. The successful design has been proven time and again to have demonstrated psychological and physiological effects. Kader describes how colour, material, lighting, temperature, and sound may either favourably or adversely affect human activity inside a space in his study “Architecture and Human Behavior – Does Design Affect Our Senses?”
Given this, designers may be able to rewire the negative associations associated with medical visits into positive ones by building a setting that appeals to the senses and human psychology.
References:
Aeichi Korean Medical Clinic – Iconic World (no date) Start – Iconic World. [online]Available at: https://www.iconic-world.com/directory/aeichi-korean-medical-clinic (Accessed: April 16, 2023).
Ali Morris |15 October 2019 Leave a comment (2019) South Korean clinic designed to promote “bond of sympathy” Between patients, Dezeen.[online] Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2019/10/15/aeichi-korean-medical-clinic-by-by-seog-be-seog/ (Accessed: April 16, 2023).
Behance (no date) Dal.Im Korean Medical Clinic, Behance.[online] Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/91413155/DalIm-Korean-Medical-Clinic (Accessed: April 16, 2023).
Healthcare.pdf – The Aeichi Korean Medical Clinic is a small clinic located in Yongin a major city south of Seoul in South Korea’s Gyeonggi Province.: Course hero (no date) Healthcare.pdf – The Aeichi Korean Medical Clinic is a small clinic located in Yongin a major city south of Seoul in South Korea’s Gyeonggi Province. | Course Hero. [online]Available at: https://www.coursehero.com/file/62983290/Healthcarepdf/ (Accessed: April 16, 2023).
