About The Operatory

The Operatory is an English-language magazine about dental office design and planning in the Pacific Northwest. It looks at how the daily work of a practice becomes a floor plan, how the interior treats patients and staff, and how the construction, equipment and budget side of a project is delivered. The site is for dentists and specialists preparing a first office or a remodel, practice managers, and the architects, contractors and equipment planners who carry a project from first sketch to opening day.

Who does what

A dental project involves several parties. The articles describe the roles of the architect, the interior designer, the contractor and the equipment planner. Each organisation is discussed in the third person, with its scope of work and the point where its responsibility ends. No firm, clinic or supplier is promoted.

Stage by stage

Planning is treated as a sequence. Site selection, feasibility, schematic design, permit, construction and fit-out are explained in the order they occur. The articles show what decisions are made at each stage, who makes them, and what information a practice needs to provide before the next stage can begin.

Reading the evidence

Texts are written from public sources named in each article. Plans, codes, cost reports, trade publications and public records are listed in the article where they are used. When a source is unclear or a figure is not public, the article states that limit instead of filling the gap. No private data is used, and no confidential project information is published.

The interior

The interior is examined as a working environment. Circulation, sight lines, materials, lighting and acoustic separation are discussed in relation to how staff move and how patients wait. The aim is to make the connection between a design decision and its daily effect on a practice.