Bhadra Rajendren Pandalai

Embrace is a women’s healthcare centre, designed to create a welcoming and calming environment for women to receive treatment. Anxiety around healthcare is an issue that affects many women and this project aims to reduce this feeling and make healthcare services more accessible for women. The floorplans are shaped to have a central courtyard with consultation rooms extending into them to become part of the gardens. The courtyard allows for circulation to occur around it without narrow corridors that can increase feelings of anxiety. The psychology services are located in a greenhouse-like space on the first floor with trees and vegetation scattered between consultation rooms to create a peaceful and serene healthcare experience. In the general practice area, tree-like columns support a folding panelled glass and timber roof that allows dappled light into the space. To avoid a clinical appearance to the building, materials such as timber and board-marked concrete in warm and natural colours are used both internally and externally. Through the use of these design strategies, the centre creates a calming healthcare experience for women.