John Li Studio designed a warm and functional space for the Angel Reproductive Medicine Center in Chengdu, China.

Under the influence of the factors such as social environment and life pressure, and the heightened popularity of late marriage and late childbearing, the number of infertile people at home reached nearly 50 million in 2018, and it is growing at a rate of hundreds of thousands every year. The demand of the market has also rendered the field of assisted reproduction a hot spot in the industry.

John Li Studio was invited to conduct a new design for Chengdu Angel Reproductive Medicine Center. The way to cater to the requirements of use and humanized care, prioritize personal privacy, and provide patients with a professional and comfortable healing environment with aesthetic value and a sense of security has become a thorning issue before us.

As a female-specific gonad organ, the ovary is highly relevant in the breeding of new life and is the first hotbed for females to breed the seeds of life. Drawing this as inspiration, a shape like a “nest” is created in the triage area of the hall. A warm bird’s nest woven with wooden grilles can be compared to a cradle for nurturing and caring for life, carrying people’s hope for the future. The parametrically designed hall wall is engraved with back-lit patterns, which is a simulation of the intention of wings, implying the auspicious meanings of “child-sending birds” and “birds returning to their nests”.

With the particularity of reproductive medicine, the psychological need for privacy among patients is relatively high. As such, in the design of the reproductive medicine center, the way to protect the privacy of patients maximumly stands as an integral consideration in its humanized design. In the waiting area, the designer creates a sense of area through the division of the ground and the ceiling, differentiating each functional space and the main traffic passage. The waiting area is designed to not face the entering personnel or the main traffic directly. Circuitous flow lines are adopted in the corridor to avoid sweeping views. The VIP area is independently set, and is partitioned by atomized double-layer glass, which has good permeability and lighting while guaranteeing a private and quiet atmosphere. In the consulting room, a separate conversation room is set, which integrates reception, conversation, outpatient service, and even B-ultrasound, sperm collection and blood drawing services into one, providing VIP customers with a more private one-stop service.

The designer found commonalities between bird nesting and human weaving skills, and invited the inheritors of the national intangible cultural heritage Sichuan brocade weaving skills to create multiple Sichuan brocade artworks to create an exclusive mini Sichuan brocade museum of Chengdu Angel Reproductive Medicine Center. While integrating traditional art into the medical space and improving the quality of the space, the art healing of auxiliary psychotherapy is achieved.

Here, we hope that every guest can release all the pressure, and feel relaxed and comfortable along with the art in the “Palace of Art”, enjoying a relaxed and satisfactory pregnancy journey.

Design: John Li Studio
Design Team: John Li, Yanping Gu, Changqing Wang
Architect: pAno
Contractor: ZRTB
Photography: Bin Zhao