Sumiyoshido

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Photos courtesy of id

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Photos courtesy of id

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Photos courtesy of id

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Photos courtesy of id

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Japanese design office id have recently completed their latest project, Sumiyoshido, a Kampo Lounge and Clinic based in Aichi. Kampo is a traditional Japanese medicine with unique theories and therapeutic methods originally based on traditional Chinese medicine. The Lounge is separate to the clinic; here acupuncture and moxibustion, a traditional Chinese medicine technique, are practiced.
 
The Lounge space is surrounded by multiple medicine shelves and drawers, lined and stacked up with some of the drawers left open to display natural medicine samples. The rest of the furniture in the space has a similar uniform appearance, with simple light fixtures and matching desks and sofas whose design includes the same drawers found along the walls. These drawers are meant to represent how Sumiyoshido offers treatment with integrated methods.

The lounge is painted entirely in mint green to express the world of herbal medicine, derived from plants. In contrast, the clinic area is a quiet space painted in white. Thick draped curtains bring softness to the interior, putting visitors at ease even though it is technically an examination room. The two spaces are clearly separated by their colours and by a waiting room between them, communicating that this is one building with two spaces for different yet interlinked purposes.
 
Sumiyoshido's entrance is wide and open, almost appearing as it were a show window. However, it is not just for show, but filled with history and a detailed knowledge of herbal medicine.