Boutique eyecare provider Lumea’s newest location in Toronto is a bold, self-assured statement of the brand’s position in the health and wellness market.
Located in The Well – a major new mixed-use development in the city’s urban core – Lumea Toronto questions established perceptions of clinical environments and creates a unique destination for immersive, experience-based treatments and therapies.
At the project’s outset, Reflect Architecture sought to create a unique environment that would express Lumea’s values and stand out in an increasingly crowded health and wellness sector. Notably, Lumea Toronto upends conventional clinic formats, which typically see visitors enter via a lobby or reception area that is separated and disassociated from treatment spaces. Lumea’s interior layout and programming inverts this spatial relationship, foregrounding the technical expertise, equipment and processes that define the client experience.
The primary procedure room, which houses refractive laser equipment, fronts The Well’s pedestrian concourse and is screened by a sweeping wall of glass blocks. The use of glass – a subtle, abstracted design gesture that plays with concepts of clarity and diffusion – offers an obscured glimpse at the optical equipment within.
“Typically, health and wellness clinics have paid little attention to their storefronts. But for Lumea Toronto, we not only considered how we could create an environment that cared for patients inside but would create visual interest along a busy pedestrian concourse,” explains Trevor Wallace, Founder & Principal of Reflect Architecture.
“The challenge with a mixed-use development is that you have limited frontage to play with and few opportunities to stand out,” adds Wallace. “Light emerged as a unique and especially appropriate way of activating the face of a clinic that’s dedicated to improving sight. At dusk, the procedure room is lit from within and it transforms into this glowing glass volume that pedestrians can see.”
