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A Gentle Environment – Be Kids Therapy by Selzer Design Studio
With Be Kids Therapy, Selzer Design Studio met a curly design challenge head on. The result is a psychology clinic for children that is private and practical yet that also manages to escape a clinical aesthetic, opting instead for a calming feel.
The child- and family-focused allied health clinic is located on busy High Street, Armadale, in Melbourne’s east, and occupies the ground floor of its building. It consists of a primary space for the paediatric clients of a clinical phycologist, as well as spaces for other therapists, such as paediatricians, speech pathologists, paediatric and women’s physiotherapists as well as occupational therapists.
As such, the key criteria for this multi-disciplinary space were that it be neutral, calming and, of course, engaging for its youngest visitors. In the primary room, this engagement has been realised via a delicate balance of texture and a neutral colour palette. A velvety carpet allows for floor-based activities and offers a sensorial texture for kids to explore and play with, making marks and drawings on the floor with their fingers before rubbing them out. The space is predominantly white and filled with feel-good natural light.
The interplay of light and pale tones exists, too, within the reception and waiting areas where warm, earthy coloured furniture and gently curving walls, reception desk and shelving soothingly welcome visitors. The lack of sharp corners is subtle yet impactful in its softening of the space. In the waiting area, toys and games can be discovered in built-in cupboards, and textured rugs and ottomans again offer tactile engagement to the clinic’s young clientele.
