Apex Allergy

Awarded: IIDA Carolinas Design Works, Healthcare Interior Design Award, 2017 

When Apex Allergy chose to open their new office just off the Haywood Road retail corridor in Greenville, SC, the location proved ideal for a new medical practice — although the original building left much to be desired. Designed and built in the late 1990’s as an Italian restaurant, the building had sat empty for many years. The decision to bring it back to life as a healthcare setting was both brilliant and challenging.

From the start, the physician communicated a desire for a clean, contemporary design and an interior environment based on the Japanese idea of Shinrin-yoku. Shinrin-yoku is a term that means “taking in the forest atmosphere” or “forest bathing.” Developed in Japan during the 1980s, Shinrin-yoku has become a cornerstone of preventive health care and healing in Japanese medicine. Our design team conceptualized a light-filled, inviting space, layered with varying textures and shades of brown and green. The practice’s brand colors were used throughout as accents. A semi-random carpet pattern was designed to evoke a textural forest path through the waiting room leading patients from the front door to the ‘shot area.’ Wall graphics in the children’s play area visually extend the space and the ‘path.’ Seating options in the waiting areas range from lounging to cyber bar. Clinical spaces feature LVT planks in warm, weathered wood patterns, bold wall colors, and nature themed art — all reinforcing the Apex Allergy brand.

The 7,181 SF project was completed October of 2016.