-By Michael Webb, Photography by Andi Albert

Going to the dentist can be fun in Berlin, thanks to the playful, inventive spirit that Graft Lab has brought to two clinics in the German capital. Three years ago, the architectural firm (which has offices in Berlin, Los Angeles, and Beijing) transformed raw space into a simulated beach with orange sand dunes. That, and the fluid forms of the same firm's Q Hotel close by, caught the eye of Dr. A. Mokabberi, a pediatric dentist, who invited the designers to create a welcoming environment for his young patients and their anxious parents.

"The idea was that we should draw on our experience of designing bars and restaurants to create efficient, user-friendly spaces," says Graft architect Sven Fuchs. "Dentists seem to have a very good network, and one job led on to the next. We just completed a reception area for 50 practitioners in a five-story building in Dusseldorf."

Kinderzahnarztpraxis (Kinderdentist) is located in the bohemian neighborhood of Prenzlauer Berg. The century-old building has a feature that is common to many of this vintage: a split level at the point of entry. Stairs lead down to a semi-basement and up to a raised first floor. For Graft, the first challenge was to balance the illumination from the the glass façade entry, while unifying the deep space. The solution they devised came in the form of a wave, pierced with glass slots that pull natural light into the three upper-level treatment rooms. The windows in the façade frame the wave, inviting patients to enter and then drawing them down a short flight of stairs to the reception and waiting areas. The sweep of drywall cladding a steel framework was painted by Strauss and Hillegart, an artists' group from Cottbus, a city just east of Berlin. They employed tones of blue to capture the feeling of a shallow tropical sea, and they combined paint and laser-cut metal to give the compositions the illusion of depth. A mural of fish swimming in a school across the wall and a sleek silver banquette that suggests a submarine make children imagine they are underwater.

Shapes fuse into each other. Graft has used this language of swoopy curves in many of its projects, including two in Beijing: Eric Paris Salon (Contract, March 2008) and the recently completed Emperor Hotel. There, every wall and bench becomes a continuum of fluid surfaces. "We are interested in unifying spaces and bringing opposites together," explains Fuchs. "Curves are the best way of expressing continuity between different areas and functions. We've developed our techniques so that we can make them free-form; however, there are often budgetary constraints and a sculptural approach is not always possible. Here, we exploit two-dimensional curved surfaces that are enriched by cut-outs and surface texture. Lighting is integrated into the steel frame behind the drywall—we always try to avoid attaching extraneous objects. We were also able to save money by eliminating conventional walls and doors."

Because the space is so narrow—the principal waiting room is only 10 ft. across—it was important not to overwhelm it and its users. Graft principals Lars Krueckeberg, Wolfram Putz, Thomas Willemeit, and Alejandra Lillo restrained their creative exuberance and chose to make one bold gesture. Patients can take it all in at a glance and feel comfortably oriented, but the subtleties and shifts of perspective keep the staff from feeling claustrophobic. Every day brings a fresh surprise. And the existing structure was turned to advantage in practical ways. The two small waiting areas provide alternatives for children who are content to play and those who require soothing.

Graft's designers would love to have the funds to research what people feel in their interiors, but they have to rely on their collective intuition (and observation) to get it right. This was the first children's space they had created in Berlin, though they designed "Seeing," an acclaimed 2001 exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's LACMA-LAB. "Dr. Mokabberi gave us complete freedom, understanding that we needed to make a radical shift from conventional solutions," says Fuchs. "It's his skills, not the architecture, that bring people back, and if the interior had been too playful in feeling it would not have convinced the parents that he was a serious practitioner."

The color and curves and the associations they evoke strike exactly the right tone. Children can indulge in Jules Verne fantasies, and harried parents can imagine they are snorkeling off a Greek island or riding the surf in Hawaii. It works very well: the client was seeking a customer base of a thousand, and he expected it would take him three years to do so, but now he's hoping to reach his goal in half that time.

who
Project: Kinderdentist Children’s Dental Practice.  Kinderzahnarztpraxis Dr. A. Mokabberi. Architect, interior designer: GRAFT. Structural engineer: Dr. Krämer GmbH. Electrical engineer: Noenen + Kasten. General contractor: Frömmig + Scheffler. Lighting designer: GKW Lichtplanung. Photographer:  andi albert photographie.

what
Paint: Design (Wand und Wellenoberfläche: Planung + Ausführung):
Strauß + Hillegart, Bonnaskenstr. Laminate, masonry, flooring: Frömmig + Scheffler GmbH, Platanenstr. Dry wall: Knauf. Lighting: GKW Lichtplanung. Lounge seating: Möbeltischlerei Joachim Schmohl. Woodworking and cabinetmaking: Möbeltischlerei Joachim Schmohl. Plumbing fixtures: Jürgen Urbach. Vent: Climtech. Heating / Sanitary: Jürgen Urbach.

where
Location: Berlin, Germany. Total floor area: 176,3 sq. m. No. of floors: 2.