KKArchitects

Polygonal shaped pillows combined to wall graphics transform this ophthalmologist kids’ waiting area in Thessaloniki into a ludic, friendly space.

Thessaloniki-based architecture office K&K Architects developed a simple and flexible idea to fit a kid’s waiting room in a clinic in need of renovation: facing a tight budget and a space with little flexibility, the main architectural gesture is in the design of pillows that fill the space along the walls. The custom-made pillows, of changing shapes, heights and colors, create an organic sitting space that seduces all children and encourages them to have fun – even when waiting for the doctor.

The installation is a combination of three dimensional volumes and of two dimensional shapes, blended together through the use a common color palette.

The sculptural landscape of the pillows is dismantled and reorganized daily as its young visitors reshape it by changing the positions of its pieces. Even when the volumes are displaced, they provide a coherent understanding of the space and a strong atmosphere.

A bespoke table in one side of the foyer becomes an arts and crafts area. An aquarium that used to be in the waiting area is kept in the same position. The rather uninteresting and very harsh existing roof lights soften as they are camouflaged with white styrofoam rings of various diameters and heights.