While hiring interior designers for aesthetic medical offices is a growing trend, many other specialties haven’t really caught on. However, as holistic approaches become more popular for treating various types of illnesses, could elevated design become part of the process?
Dr. Iris Kerin-Orbuch, MD—founder of Iris Wings Sanctuary for Endometriosis Surgery And Wellness, believes it is. She decided to take design to the next level when opening her new office in Beverly Hills, hiring interior designer Risa Daur to collaborate on a peaceful yet chic space. She tells me, “The cookie-cutter, impersonal nature of traditional medical offices has always been off-putting to me, often eliciting a visceral sense of disgust. That’s why it was so important to design my space to feel like a sanctuary, where patients can immediately feel at ease the moment they walk in.”
Here’s a look inside Dr. Kerin-Orbuch’s office.
A Fresh Start And A New Level Of Care
“Throughout my career, all my offices—from SoHo, NYC, to Beverly Hills—have always incorporated healing elements. The calming and healing features in my past offices included waterfalls, crystals, spa-like music, and Feng Shui,” reveals the doctor.
This new space draws from elements in every office she’s had over the past two decades to create what she calls her “dream office.”
While many medical professionals design their own offices and they look beautiful, there’s still nothing like having a pro do the job. That’s why Dr. Kerin-Orbuch wanted to hire a professional interior designer to take things to a different level entirely. “While I have good taste and would consider myself aesthetically sensitive, after all, I am a physician and surgeon. I had a clear vision in mind, and my designer Risa Daur helped transform that vision into reality, meticulously crafting a spa-like sanctuary where endometriosis patients would begin their healing journey the moment they walked through the front door.”
An Interior Designer’s Process
Daur tells me she wanted the office to evoke warmth, femininity, vitality, and, perhaps most significantly, hope because endometriosis can be an incredibly frustrating diagnosis. “It was important that patients feel at ease upon entering the office and that the reception space evokes calmness. I immediately envisioned a blush/peach color scheme and knew that enveloping the walls in textured wallpaper and installing wide-plank, wood-toned laminate flooring was a must.”
One of the most notable features of the space is the mural wallpaper, Abstract Peony from Wallism, which she tells me became the backdrop and inspiration for the rest of the office. “Its blooming flower elicits layers, growth, and health while also resembling female genitalia.”
She also wanted to incorporate Zen and meditative elements synch as the small fountains tom “Enhance visual and auditory pleasure,” reveal Daur.
For Dr. Kerin-Orbuch’s personal office, Daur felt the space should feel more like a home and less like a medical space. “Like the reception area, I felt it was important to elevate her personal space, which she also uses for patient consultations. I suggested warm wood cabinetry, additional wallpaper, a rug, and plenty of personal effects.”
Even the hallways and examination rooms were intentionally designed. “We kept the space bright and filled it with Dr. Kerin-Orbuch’s impressive media memorabilia and an array of pretty things showcased on display shelving.”
In addition to this, the doctor had a gemologist intentionally place crystals throughout the space to enhance its calming and healing energy.
The Mind-Body Connection
It was essential to create a space that feels peaceful for patients who often walk in feeling exasperated—a true sanctuary. “Endometriosis patients search for roughly a decade, from symptom onset to diagnosis, seeing an average of eight physicians during that time. Additionally, this prolonged journey often comes with significant medical trauma from the decade-long diagnostic delay,” explains the doctor.
She wanted the space to be vastly different from any of the eight other physician offices patients may have encountered before. “From the moment patients walk through the doors of Iris Wings Sanctuary for Endometriosis Surgery And Wellness, I wanted them to know that it’s going to be a healing space that would allow them to beat endometriosis (also the title of my book).”
One of Dr. Kerin-Orbuch’s goals with this office is to change standards and set a new bar for the medical community as a whole. “I think patients are really driving this trend, along with holistic medical treatments. Science has long proven the brain-gut connection and the vital role the mind-body connection plays in healing. I want patients—who are typically suffering from debilitating pain for a decade or more—to walk into my office and immediately recognize how a calming environment can help them understand a head-to-toe, East-meets-West approach to healing endometriosis.”
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