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Montalba Architects design a mobile dental clinic to serve the San Francisco Bay Area
Putting patients first, the concept of a clinic on wheels that delivers dental care to the workplace fits in perfectly with on-the-go tech workers and their lifestyles. Dr. Sara Creighton, who cofounded the Studio Dental practice in San Francisco, found she had to open early and stay late to accommodate patients who couldn't take time off from work. Her solution: a mobile clinic arrives at a company's doorstep.
"Tech companies are very receptive to new ideas, so they were quick to try it, and they have pools of people with the same health benefits," she explains. "When we park outside Yahoo, we benefit from word of mouth. And everything is done online, which eliminates paperwork." Other clients include Google, Dropbox, and Facebook- companies that deliver information to peoples' screens. It's a perfect marriage of service and need.
Los Angeles-based Montalba Architects, which had designed Studio Dental's storefront clinic in North Beach, created the prototype mobile unit."It was like building the Space Shuttle-who do you go to?" says David Montalba,founding principal at Montalba Architects. "We had never designed a movable structure before, but discovered there were far fewer regulations than are required for a building, and no need for a permit."
After considering many types of trucks-and...