When it came to settling this project’s concept, we thought about the essence of ophthalmology."Ophthalmology" is a place to easily get your eyes treated with symptoms like blurred or unclear vision.We decided to focus on the "eye," and create the space through the concept of “Mimong.” Originally, Mimong means “a blurry and dazed mental state,” but we changed the characters to Mimong, which also changes the meaninginto "beauty of finding clarity from blurriness."
angnam Smile Eye clinic located in Gangnam, is the second project after Gangnam Smile Eye clinicin Busan.Since the Gangnam branch is located in Gangnamdistrict in Seoul, where the trend changesrapidly, wewanted the visitors to feel the place sensuously through a concise but clear sense of space and concept.As the Busan branch interpreted the concept of Mimongas"a sense that can only be felt with eyes: color and light," the Gangnam branch set a storytelling concept of "Mimong: The most comfortable place, emerge from water with clear eyes.
"Just like a person coming out of mother's womb(water) and seeing the light, the process of waiting in the waiting area(blurry) and performing surgery(clarity) consists a story ofemerging(doctor’s office) from the water(waiting area) and seeing the light(operating room).
The first thing you see,as you enter the clinic, is the curve of the low white partition and the reflection of swaying water on the ceiling. Located in the center of the clinic, this partition is the coreof thespatial concept.Surrounded by the low circular partitions, the inside of the waiting area isseparated from outer surroundings. The inside is colored in dark blue with its compressed feeling, which is contrary to the white color seen from the outside. Its circular spatial form and the dark color relaxes the tension in the atmosphere,as you sit on the tilted-back chairs and look at the reflection of the swaying water.
Visitors cannot see the water itself, but the reflection and the sound of it makes people recognize them as “water” and calms the atmosphere.As you leave the deepest room(waiting area), rooms expressing spatial languageof water with various spectrum of blue unfolds before you. Materials were limited, but expressed in various ways to be seen as a unified language.
At the Smile LASIK Center, the identity of Gangnam Smile Eye clinic, their operating room is not hidden inside. Instead, it is deliberately exposed so that the deep blue interior of the operating room can be seen. The exposed operating room gives patients faith and confidence. Also, it provides visual pleasure by switching on and off the visibility of the operating room: clearly visible when there is no surgery, but blurred when there is a surgery. This metaphorically expressesthe concept ofMimong:changing from blurry to clear.
