ODE Dermatology fuses wellness with hospitality service and hotel-inspired luxury to provide Melbourne’s Gertrude Street a unique dermatology offering. Housed within a heritage building, a sumptuous interior fit out and technology overhaul reflects the client’s dual medical and aesthetic philosophy: that holistic skin care should be an “ode to ones’ self”.

The brief was to design a clinic rather as a luxury-inspired hotel as opposed to the usual sterile environment. The design strategy placed an emphasis on inner beauty, which, in turn, informed the conceptual approach. “Inside-out” references the body through translucent and transformative materials, while “duality as unity” balances human with the high-tech – manifested through contemporary design insertions in a heritage context.

Special rear and side extensions on the ground floor proved crucial to the functioning of the space, and, in the process, provided an opportunity to encourage diffused natural light. Indoor planting was introduced through a suspended and fully irrigated arbour that spans the full 16-metre length of the now, newly created enclosed lightwell corridor. A new punctuation takes advantage of this vista, allowing patients to await their consultations in the centrally-located decompression lounge that is a re-envisioning of the ubiquitous “waiting room”. The experience is transformative with enhanced daylight and a space furnished with designer pieces, soft textiles and a lustrous, custom-designed houndstooth rug.

New state-of-the-art technology was installed in the treatment and consultation rooms, and provides ODE Dermatology with cutting-edge clinical capabilities, without compromising on aesthetics. Upstairs, period features are highlighted, juxtaposed with bespoke joinery pieces, including an O-shaped mirror in the powder room that becomes an ode to the brand itself.

Furniture: Myles Pedlar, Flinders Lane Gallery, RC&D, Foolscap Studio, Tom Dixon, Living Edge, Plop Ottomans, Stylecraft, Cini Boeri for Arflex, Space Furniture, RBM, Backcare & Seating, Dowel Jones, Own World, Mario Ferrarini for Crassevig, Cane-line, Achille Castiglioni for Zanotta, Cult Design, Hay. Lighting: Sphera, Volker Haug Studio. Finishes: Marblo, Earp Bros., Haymes, Apex Stone, Kvadrat & Zepel, Warwick, Instyle, CCS, Forbo, Ampelite. Fittings & Fixtures: Nood Co., Billi, Studio Henry Wilson, Designer Doorware, DAAC.

Photography: Willem-Dirk du Toit.