This was a collaboration project with my good friend Nick Giotopoulos.
In March 2016, after a basketball practice, Nick proposed that we should collaborate on a current project that he had in mind. I agreed on the spot and a meeting with the doctor was set. The project was to convert a house in Rhodes town that he inherited into a private radiology center.
The specifications and legislation were very complex and the house was in a big mess. Not only we had to get a building permit by the city planners but we also had to get a permit from the medical chamber and Democritus (The National Radiation Committee).
So we started producing all the necessary paperwork in order to get the pre-license which took us 6 months. Having that done, we went in design and planning the renovation process. After reaching an agreement for the total cost we started construction.
Here are some photos from what we saw on day 1.
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| A view at the back |
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| Side View |
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| Side View |
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| The "Living Room" |
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| Front View |
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| The "entrance" |
The doctor complained that there was water coming in from the tiles in days of intense rain. We suspected that there is a leak but that wouldn't justify the fact that the floor was dry during dry days. Three days in construction and having the floor tiles removed we found out in a bang. THERE WAS NO FLOOR SLAB!!!! Under the concrete tiles, there were 5cm of sand and fine gravel then a 3-4cm concrete layer with no reinforcement and then rocks.
Everything came to a halt but that was a great opportunity to make it all right from the beginning. We planned all Electrical and Plumbing installations to run from the floor and have only small diggings to do on the walls to install the wall plugs. That ensures that if in the near future, the doctor wants to drill its very easy to find where to do this and where not to.
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| Tiles gone....(What's my name again?) |
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| Former "plumbing repair" exposed.... |
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| Laying down electricals... |
The specifications of the electrical installation were set to "God" level due to the fact that the medical equipment is VERY expensive. All means of protection were taken in order to ensure that the installation will be fully protected against network voltage variations and that warranties will apply in the case of a thunder strike. And this is exactly why I brought in Mr Vassilis Tsavaris (My Heavy Artillery Electrician)
Having all these set, we moved on to the outside of the building. All the plastering on the outside was in a bad shape. When we took it out, we found out that more than 75% was gone and there was no way to repair it without it being visible. After a 10' consultation with the doctor, we decided to do it all over again. New doors and windows were ordered all to make the building energy efficient. All the glass panels were class A energy efficient and came with a soft energy membrane on the inside that does not produce "heavy" emmisions.
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| First coat |
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| Second coat |
After having the building prepared, we installed doors and windows while tiling and internal partitioning was taking place on the inside. We then had to focus on the cephalometric room that had to be protected against radiation leak. All walls had to be coated with led leaving no gaps or holes. This was by far the most difficult task of all and costed me some days of sleep until we found out that it was super good!
Every roll of led weighted 100 kg and was a nightmare to handle. In addittion, no grinding should have taken place in order to keep the workers safe. We firstly screwed the led to the steel frame and then started to cover the holes with strips of led that were glued on top of them. All led was laid to a height of 2.3m, 20cm more than we should have...
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| Two people lifting, one doing the "pursuasion" and one screwing... |
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| Door detail |
Having the main specs installed, it was time to start making the practice look nice. After a long time of plastering, tiling and some more plastering and painting the practice went from a wreck to a beauty. Then stress kicked in. The medical equipment arrived outside the door and we had to move this in. In every crate, there was two tilt and a shock indicators that if went on, guarantee was void. After a looooong and stressful day they were all resting at their destinated rooms.
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| The orthopantograhic apparatus in its box....The one in the middle is the doc! |
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| The Orthopantograph being setup |
Having that out of the way, we starting focusing on the building again but with extreme caution not to go close to the equipment. We started banning rooms and if we had to do something in there, it was always under the supervision of us and the doctor at the same time.
Mr Tsavaris, the electrician started completing the electricals and the Cosmos Security finished the alarm and CCTV circuit while all the rooms were getting prettier day by day.
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| The electrical board during assembly |
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| Room finishing |
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| Alarm and CCTV main board |
The ceilings were designed specially for this purpose. Light blue color and hidden light were added so the patient can see a light blue color while being examined. This combo has proven to calm the patients down during the examination and it makes the life of the doctor easier.
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| Ceiling detail |
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