The pandemic has caused hypersensitivity to health on a global scale. Aeon, a new future health clinic in Calgary, provides personalized treatments using innovative technology that goes beyond the expected traditional practices. Through the art and science of changing your environment around and inside you, you can take control of your own biology.
Using a unique and highly collaborative studio model, McKinley Studios engaged their research, interiors, branding, and furniture curation teams to create a space that embodies biohacking. Selecting the clinic’s name, Aeon, which has etymological roots relating to “life”, “vital force” and “forever”, served as a springboard to envisioning a space that reflected the hyper surreal and futuristic experience.
Like biohacking, the design incorporates simple solutions for maximum impact. The monochromatic palette of varying textures envelopes the visitor and minimizes distractions. Navigation of space and feeling is guided by the essence of light - bright lights attract, dim lights sooth, soft glow calms, red light energizes, and indirect light feels natural. The high gloss epoxy flooring reflects these experiences and creates a sense of suspension and movement below.
The equipment of this clinic, with treatments that aim to alter a variety of internal and external senses, requires spaces entirely beyond what a typical health office offers. The AI-powered stationary bike and the motorized resistance machine exist in an open room with a soft glow and mirrors that let the user see themselves into infinity. In contrast, the red-light, compression, and electromagnetic pulse therapy sessions each have their own intimate spaces for focus and relaxation.
The new biotechnical social movement comes at a time where people want to regain control of their health and of their future. It presents an opportunity to reassess how we want to live now, how we want to live moving forward, and how design plays a role in achieving this shift. We believe that the future will be all about small, impactful alterations to help enhance and optimize our world. As technology continues to evolve and expand it leads to new spaces and opens the portal to experimenting with futuristic design.