A dramatic blue and white screen with a curved entrance portal now envelops the Benson Radiology Centre in Salisbury.
As you walk towards the building, the screen appears transparent, but when viewed from different angles it becomes opaque.
Behind this eye-catching façade more impressive changes have been made to the building by Tridente Architects in a project which has been shortlisted for the World Architecture Awards in Singapore.
Photo: Simon Cecere
“The effect of the screen is pronounced,” Tridente co-director Paul Boyce told InDaily Design.
“It allows a glimpse of the skeletal system and building form inside and then again becomes opaque, hinting at the nature of the processes occurring within – all whilst appearing to change colour, transitioning between Benson Radiology’s corporate colours of white and blue.”
The screen is made of thin “fins” fabricated by a local purlin manufacturer. They’re fixed to a steel truss which holds them upright.
“Entranced visitors and passers-by look and then look again, then wonder what is concealed behind the inviting archway created by lifting a small portion [of the façade],” Boyce says.
Photo: Simon Cecere
The completed centre accommodates an MRI suite, a CT suite, a mammography suite, a bone-mineral densitometry suite, an orthopantogram suite, an x-ray suite and a nuclear medicine suite.
Boyce says the old premises had been in serious need of a redesign.
“The existing building and grounds were in very poor condition. The grey, lacklustre built form had no street appeal, no sense of entry and was not welcoming to patients.
“The lack of presence was such that even on their company website they referred to the facility as being located directly across the road from KFC.”
Photo: Simon Cecere
The redesign was a good opportunity for Benson Radiology to refresh its branding and corporate image.
Boyce says the new building now more accurately reflects the progressive service and equipment it offers.
“Benson Radiology speaks for itself. It talks of simplicity, legibility and of wellbeing”
“The end result is simple, light and humane.”
