OAKV by Atelier Carle
Atelier Carle reimagines the traditional medical clinic through OAKV, a project that embodies warmth, intimacy, and care in equal measure.
Located in a Toronto suburb within a generic business complex, the 700-square-metre clinic departs from the sterile conventions of healthcare interiors, instead embracing a design approach that humanizes the clinical experience through light, texture, and spatial clarity.
Confronted with a site defined by limited natural light and minimal privacy, the Montreal-based studio began by rethinking the spatial organization. The layout is anchored by a central double-height volume, an architectural gesture that establishes both hierarchy and openness. Above, a large skylight diffuses a soft, diaphanous light across the interior, bathing the core of the clinic in a glow that enhances its sense of calm and expansiveness. Around this central space, treatment areas are arranged in layers, balancing accessibility with discretion and creating a clear progression from public to private zones.
At the entrance, walnut cladding immediately introduces a tone of understated warmth. The material's richness counteracts the site's utilitarian exterior of concrete and parking lots, signalling a retreat from the everyday. This tactile palette continues throughout, with the natural depth of timber grounding the design in a sense of comfort and permanence.
Adjacent to the main reception, two key programmatic elements expand the idea of care beyond the clinical: a café shared by staff and patients, and a cosmetics boutique featuring a product testing counter. Together, these form a social threshold that bridges the exterior world and the more secluded treatment rooms. The transition between these zones is carefully mediated by light. Corridors are softly illuminated, their muted tones and gentle gradients evoking the tranquillity of a wellness retreat rather than a medical facility.
This sensitivity to atmosphere defines the project. Every gesture, from the distribution of light to the selection of materials, contributes to a spatial experience that feels both restorative and precise. By prioritizing the human experience of care, Atelier Carle positions OAKV within a growing movement that seeks to redefine the aesthetics of health and wellbeing. In doing so, the clinic transcends functionality to offer something more profound: an environment that nurtures comfort, dignity, and calm.
