30 Mar Dr Calderara’s pharmacy: 350 sq. m of well-being in the Val d’Ossola

350 sq. m. of well-being in the Val d’Ossola
The Pharmacy of Dr Calderara – Trontano (IT)

The Calderara Pharmacy nestles in the mountains just outside the small town of Domodossola. The building is 2 storeys high and has 4 large shop windows facing out onto a car park.  The refurbishment has captured much of the spirit of this mountainous zone, such as the sharp colours, icy air and a preference for concrete actions over empty rhetoric.

First of all, we joined together two separate 3-storey buildings to create one single building with a combined area of 350 sq. m., of which 250 sq. m. is taken up by the pharmacy. There is also an underground garage and a basement with store rooms and a cloak room. A mini-apartment, toilets, laboratory and a display area for babycare, gluten-free and hygiene products fitted with ®RAL3 furniture are all located on the first floor.

The prescription area, counters and dispensary are located on the ground floor. Here we have 3 semicircular one-person counters with an aluminium finish and another counter behind with shelving above for over-the-counter medicines with methacrylatesides, all of which is coated in Alu A colour enamel and features ®RAL1 brushed-steel finishes. The ground floor also features a herbal medicine area furnished with ivory and white furniture from the ®Ral Classic series, decorated with trompe l’oeils depicting the pharmacist’s family tree.

The pharmacy’s curved walls are fitted with ®RAL2 display units displaying dietetic products in one area and beauty in an other, each display unit fitted with alternating blue and yellow tympanum-shaped signs that evoke the colours of the arnica and gentiana plants, both used in the preparation of herbal remedies. There is also an upsidedown cone-shaped pilaster marking out the beauty centre’s central position and a lift in glass and steel beside the stairs that go up through the ceiling and draws one gaze up to the upper floor. The retail area features a stained glass window made up of thousands of bits of coloured Venetian Murano glass and depicts the mountains, valleys and waterfalls of the surrounding countryside.

The stained glass panel is placed between the shopfront and the prescription area and serves to filter the strong light flooding in through the 4 large shop windows, bathing the pharmacy’s interior in a thousand colours and protecting customers’ privacy from the prying eyes of anyone looking through the shop windows.

There is a separate area for measuring blood pressure and self-testing and another for special offers and seasonal promotions which is located down some shallow steps with lights to guide the way. The shop windows are well lit and frame the pharmacy’s interior. There are also coloured cubes and illuminated shelves to pin point certain areas of the window dressing and attract the attention of passers-by.

The pharmacy also contains lots of LCD screens placed in strategic points as well as banners and logos on back-lit tympanum-shaped signs to ensure that plenty of useful information in readily available, enabling customers to find their way around the pharmacy with ease.

All of the single elements combine to create a carefully-constructed atmosphere which builds an imaginary bridge between Dr Calderara and his clientele, a unique means to communicate with and a way of showing that his pharmacy is part of the community.

The building’s colour scheme has also been careful chosen to create a tonal link with the surrounding countryside and to distinguish one storey from another. The ground floor was painted in pale yellow ochre while the first storey was painted in burnt Siena. Local beola stone from Val d’Ossola was also used in the stairs, walls and pillars to give the pharmacy’s interior that all-important familiar feel as well as create more depth. Finally blue LED floor lighting does the rest and leads the customer around the pharmacy on a journey of discovery. In short, a mountain pharmacy for the third millennium.

Download and print out the Calderara Pharmacy’s brochure

The Pharmacy of Dr Giancarlo Calderara – Trontano (IT)
S.S. 337 n°9 – Tel. (0039)  0324.242403