At first glance, the new clinic of the primary care startup Parsley Healthlooks nothing like a doctor’s office. There’s a plant wall over the receptionist’s desk. There’s a kitchen in the waiting area, stocked with kombucha, coconut yogurt, and snacks like lotus seed puffs and turmeric plant bites. There are comfy couches and a long table that makes the lounge seem more like a cool Brooklyn cafe or a coworking space than a place where you’d get a vaccination.
This space, located on the second floor of a Fifth Avenue address, isn’t just a trendy spot for wellness obsessives–though it certainly looks the part. The clinic was designed by architect Alda Ly and interior designers Hilko Designs, and it’s conceptualized to provide a healthy way of life for the company’s members from the moment they walk in the door. Ly and Parsley’s head of design Day Jimenez worked together to incorporate biophilia, a design approach that uses natural elements to improve mental and physical wellbeing, into the office, from the meditation nook to the rooms where patients see their primary care doctor.
Parsley views design as a key factor that contributes to patients’ health. Doctor Robin Berzin founded the company in 2015 because she saw a flaw in the American medical system, which primarily focuses on prescriptions and procedures, not preventative care. About 90% of diseases are related to social determinants–your environment and your behavior. At Parsley, Berzin’s team of traditionally trained doctors work with members, who pay a subscription fee of $150 per month, to understand what is going on in their lives that might be impacting their health. In this sense, Parsley is not alone. It is one of a group of startups trying to redesign primary care for people who are displeased with the alarming state of health care in the United States (and can afford their membership model, which isn’t covered by insurance). By designing its first space according to biophilic design principles, Parsley is hoping to ease patients’ nerves and show them that going to the doctor doesn’t have to be a negative experience.
Previously, Parsley had small clinics located inside of three WeWork locations. This New York clinic is Parsley’s first standalone space, with plans for a Los Angeles clinic in the works. Given the company’s focus on how your environment impacts your body, Berzin felt it was important to design a space that would translate Parsley’s philosophy into practice. “We wanted to create comfort, create intimacy, create healing, and help empower people to engage in their health from the moment they walk in the door,” Berzin says.
