Dalseth Family Dental Clinic
Apple Valley, Minn.
ALTUS Architecture + Design

ATLUS Architecture + Design reinvents the suburban dental office, integrating a luminous interior with a field of prairie grass

© Peter Bastianelli-Kerze

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

By Bette Hammel

The announcement that “we’re going to the dentist today” arouses dread in most families. No wonder. While awaiting the potential screech of the drill, nervous patients are typically sequestered in banal, glaring, or dimly lit waiting rooms amid the constant buzz of dental equipment.

Dr. Stephen Dalseth set out to change all that. His dental practice had been thriving for 30 years in Apple Valley, a Minneapolis suburb. But when his son joined the three-dentist group, he seized the chance to rethink the standard approach.

“Our space didn’t reflect our practice’s progressive nature and sensitivity to patients,” he told architect Tim Alt, AIA, principal of the Minneapolis firm ALTUS Architecture + Design. The Dalseths envisioned a dynamic, joyful, and comfortable place, where kids and adults would want to come. Stephen Dalseth also requested a green environment—literally and figuratively—with naturally luminous interiors. As he puts it, “Sunlight always energizes people.”

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Formal name of Project:
Dalseth Family Dental Clinic

Location:
Apple Valley, Minn.

Gross square footage:
7,000 sq. ft.

Total construction cost:
$805,000

Owner:
Dr. Stephen Dalseth and Dr. Pascal Dalseth

Architect:
ALTUS Architecture + Design
1609 Hennepin Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55403
P: 612-333-8095
F: 612-333-8098
www.altusarch.com