BUILDING AWARD WINNER: Zambrano Designs for Comfort

BY JEN KHEDAROO

Designing for comfort Willy Zambrano and Daniel Barrenechea, partners at Zambrano Architectural Design, LLC, are committed to projects that create spaces with a sense of delight for their clients and users. For Zambrano, working on the Genesis Renal Center was an opportunity to stand out in terms of design and comfort.

Originally a one-story cabinet shop, Zambrano Architectural Design worked with builder Fazio Construction Company and property owner Nathan Brachfeld to create the 24-station dialysis center.

Genesis Renal Center is in an area that has both industrial and residential elements. Zambrano’s vision involved injecting contemporary architecture into the neighborhood.

To do so, they designed the exterior with a playful yet elegant charcoal gray shade and added a gold band across the width of the building to illuminate the windows and the lobby entrance.

“We wanted to have a strong presence in the streetscape of the neighborhood,” Zambrano said. “While one side of 88th Street is industrial, the other side is residential, and for the look we wanted to be in the middle and have the building stand out.”

Designing comfort was the key to how the architect and his team chose the particular palette of colors for the interior. Dialysis patients typically spend about three hours being treated at least three times a week.

To ease the experience for patients, they chose a pastel base and added bright and soothing colors such as orange, yellow and red as accents throughout the space. They also sought to create a space with as much natural light as possible to create a more calming space.

“You want to give them an environment that emphasizes warmth,” he said. “Being treated three hours a day, three days a week, is really uncomfortable so the colors we chose are pleasant to the patients. “The exterior is all about presence in the community while the interior is all about warmth and comfort,” Zambrano added.