TikTok is filled with videos of people dissecting celebrity makeovers and compiling lists of the ever more popular procedures behind them, from lip filler to laser resurfacing. In line with that, cosmetic surgery clinics have been undergoing a transformation of their own, rapidly evolving into something more akin to a spa or fashion boutique. Indeed, when a husband-and-wife pair of dermatologists started to dream up Oakville’s Surface Dermatology, their initial mood board included images of Aesop stores. They traced those locations back to the architecture firm behind them — Montreal’s Atelier Carle — and gave them a call.

1

The Brief

“Back in my generation, [cosmetic procedures] were something that would be done confidentially,” says founding architect Alain Carle. “Nowadays, people are completely transparent.” Part of helping patients feel comfortable in their freshly microneedled or hyaluronic acid–infused skin is ensuring that the treatment environment they start off in puts them immediately at ease.

At Surface, this calming setting also benefits those with more serious medical concerns; along with injectable treatments and laser therapies paid out of pocket, the 700-square-metre dermatology practice treats skin cancers and lesions covered under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan. And as much as the design might feel like a departure from typical doctors’ offices, Atelier Carle also sees it as a return to old-school healthcare design. “This is something that you might have once seen in an older medical office, but over the years, we lost all that to white, metallic clinics,” says Alexandre Lemoyne, an associate architect at the firm. “This was an opportunity to do something different that brings the feel of those practices back.”

2

The Site

As much as the team at Surface Dermatology might specialize in outer beauty, Alain Carle says the clinic’s setting in an Oakville strip mall development left a lot to be desired. “There was a feeling that we had to transport people somewhere else.” Hence the walnut-lined vestibule that patients initially step into, which feels a bit like the inside of a magical wardrobe. Just beyond the glass front doors, two perforated wooden doors offer an early glimpse of the lobby on the other side while also modulating the flow of sunlight. “The parking lot outside experiences a really harsh glare because there’s nothing else around it, so we wanted to progressively filter down that intensity,” says Carle.

3

The Design

As part of the creative team’s cheeky rebuttal of all things shiny and youthful, the ensuing lobby presents as delightfully retro. Complete with a marble reception desk, clusters of crimson velvet seating and a grand coffered ceiling, it is meant to capture the civic dignity of a historic train station. “It’s not something that you can date very easily — you don’t have a clear idea where this space came from,” says Lemoyne.

While this monumental, double-height area is soaked in a warm, golden glow, the treatment zones just beyond it represent a progressive scaling down in terms of both height and brightness. Each surgical room has two entrances: one for patients, accessed via a dim, moody corridor behind the lobby, and another for staff that connects to a back-of-house hallway.“Drawing on [the clients’] experience working in other clinics, they wanted this idea of people not seeing exactly how the machine works,” says Carle.

4

The Details

Carle was eager to carry the same level of warm intimacy into the treatment rooms themselves, although the demands of a clinical space meant making a few concessions. “We do have metal counters, but overall, we still kept to the warm wood feel by using a veneer.” While he was initially concerned that all this would be undone by the “awful” look of medical procedure chairs, he and his clients were able to find a supplier who could provide a respectable seat. Otherwise, the finishing touch that Carle is most excited about is a three-panel screen installed back in the lobby featuring an artwork by tattoo artist and architectural designer Clémentine Dufaut. “It’s an interesting conversation about the body,” he says.

5

The Scene

To the left and right of the lobby, respectively, are Surface’s cosmetics boutique and coffee shop, Sojourn, both of which are anchored by rounded steel basins that echo Atelier Carle’s Aesop portfolio. “A large communal table creates this possibility to have a shared experience,” Carle explains, noting the two rounded stools that fold out from the base of the cosmetics counter for consultations.

To give Sojourn (which is accessible to the public through a dedicated second entrance) its own distinctive identity, the design team clad the space in sage green tile that runs along the walls, floor and benches — and represents another throwback. “The way that we laid them in a mosaic parquet gives it this vintage geometry,” says Lemoyne. Carle also sees each tile’s linear bars as akin to blades of grass. “Even without putting in potted plants, you somehow have the very far-away feel of a garden in this space that is otherwise just surrounded by asphalt,” he says. Talk about a successful makeover.