Sensory Design

Who said that healthcare requires cold and all-white environments? Certainly not the team behind Wangan Studio, an Istanbul-based interdisciplinary practice co-founded by Mert Can Uzyıldırım, Kutay Yorulmaz and Kerem Özerler – working across architecture, interiors, product, brand and experience design. Case in point: Their latest project – a dental clinic, aptly named Smiles, located in Ankara – reflects a contemporary architectural language anchored in the spatial and emotional codes of hospitality design. The creative concept is centred around the idea of a contemporary art gallery where dental treatments happen. Spanning 1,100 square metres, the space fuses sculptural forms and immersive materials, as well as and paintings. “From the beginning, the design integrated art as an inseparable element of the architecture,” the Wangan team says. “The clinic was curated as a dynamic environment, showcasing both permanent works and temporary exhibitions.”

The in-house collection includes works by Seçkin Pirim, Mehmet & Kazım, Tom Fellows and Ömer Faruk Yaman, while rotating installations by emerging artists bring constant transformation and relevance to the space. Direct collaborations with artists also influenced the architecture itself. For instance, Pirim’s sculpture, ‘Rezonans’, was installed using a custom cantilever system, integrated as a structural feature of the space; Yaman transferred his drawings from paper to canvas for the first time, creating his largest work in this medium; Fellows, meanwhile, expanded his practice with a new piece at an unprecedented scale of 4 by 2.7 metres. Finally, the duo Mehmet & Kazım participated with two works from distinct periods – one in red hues from their Berlin period and another black-and-white piece from their 2023 New York exhibition. 

“The greatest challenge lay in balancing two seemingly contradictory ambitions: to meet the precise functional demands of a medical facility while crafting an environment that feels emotionally warm, visually unexpected and experientially rich,” says the Wangan team. “That meant questioning every convention – from the use of colour and material to the choreography of movement and the psychology of space.”

The core of the palette was intentionally kept neutral with volcanic greys, taupes and brushed steel, while colour – such as deep blues and soft greens – was introduced through the furniture, artworks and accessories to provide vibrant touches without disrupting the overall calm backdrop. With its textured grey surface, the Ceppo di Gré natural stone cladding the volumes provides tactile complexity, while the surrounding walls were finished in black-stained oak for warmth. Placed beside the main welcome wall, the frosted glass panel tests the limits of design and fabrication with its unconventional folds, custom angles and large-scale curvature. 

“There is a deliberate contrast at play – between permanence and softness, structure and sensuality,” says the Wangan team, who want to engage the senses everywhere in the space – from the waiting lounge that feels more like a salon, to the rooms, encased in translucent partitions, that echo the quiet confidence of high-end ateliers.

Inspiration came from places that evoke emotion through space, such as contemporary art galleries, Milanese retail interiors and hospitality venues where material speaks before function. “Carlo Scarpa’s poetic layer detailing, Tadao Ando’s mastery of light and silence, and the textural tension found in post-industrial architecture were key influences,” the team says. “We were drawn to spaces that slow you down, ask you to feel – not just move through. That sensibility guided every decision. From the outset, the ambition was not to create just another sterile dental clinic, but to reimagine the patient experience entirely – through space, atmosphere and material – and rewrite the rules of what a care space could be.”

Photography – Ibrahim Ozbunar / 645 Studio