The healthcare market is facing substantial changes as demand for medical and care services increases with global economic growth. Aging societies, improvement of patient experience, and the effects of COVID-19 outbreak all require many changes in the design of healthcare spaces.
In particular, a safe and comfortable environment, high-quality service, and meticulous hygiene management have become an essential part of creating a healing environment. LX Hausys provides healthcare interior solutions based on thorough analysis of these changes and the needs of healthcare service providers.
NICU hospital renovation project is the case that best illustrates successful renovation by using HIMACS solid surface material, one of LX Hausys’ major product brand. The renovation and expansion was part of a $1 billion construction project at the hospital.
The “Life, Giving, Breakthroughs“ campaign was initiated with the aim to newly design NICU hospital. After hospital renovation, the 3,000 families served each year in the NICU were able to stay comfortably together in single rooms during their stay at the hospital.
While parents have always been welcome in the unit at all times of the day or night, these newly renovated rooms gave them a place to sleep with access to natural light, and increased privacy. By making it easier for parents to stay with their babies around the clock, the renovations helped newborns with critical development during the first few days or weeks of life.
HIMACS solid surface, owing to its hygienic properties and limitless design possibilities, was the top priority choice for NICU renovation project’s design material.
HIMACS Solid Surface Material – Perfect for Unique and Functional Reception Design
The U-shaped reception desk is large enough for up to four people, including one receptionist and two staff members at workstations housing computers, phones and printers. A fourth person could fit in fairly easily, Brumbach said. The desk measures 9 feet wide by 13 feet long. The front of the desk is 30 inches high, but the sides extend to 48 inches, allowing for privacy.
The reception desk made by HIMACS solid surface material, which is directly in front of the elevators, gives visitors a welcoming first impression but is large enough to block access to the rest of the unit. The shape of reception desk made possible by HIMACS solid surface’s thermoformability, also allows for innovative lighting.
“There is accent lighting on the underside of the reception desk’s curve,” Brumbach said. “It creates a halo effect on that reception desk.” The architects and hospital are pleased with their hospital design product. “It turned out very well,” Brumbach said. “The end result was really, really strong.”
· HIMACS solid surface, top approved material for hospital interior designs
The decision to use HIMACS solid surface material, which is on the hospital’s top listed interior design materials, was made early in the hospital renovation process.
This is because HIMACS solid surface meets every essential factors for hospital designs. According to the Guidelines for Design & Construction of Hospitals issued by FGI, there are 4 key considerations for healthcare facility designs: Design Flexibility, Hygiene, Materials Safety, and Lifetime Cost Reduction.
HIMACS solid surface, with its three-dimensional thermoforming capability and unlimited color spectrum, perfectly harmonizes the hospital interior design and medical equipment. Also, a seamless, non-porous and environmentally certified HIMACS solid surface material fulfills the safety need of healthcare facilities.
Oatmeal became the base color for the unit’s neutral color palette and was repeated for other shared spaces of the unit, such as the staff workstations and break room. The neutral palette used throughout the unit includes Off-White, Oatmeal, Tan and Beige.
The furniture provides splashes of color throughout, and the wood floors add their own accent. “We selected wood flooring to bring additional warmth to the project,” Brumbach said.
· HIMACS solid surface is a perfect material to realize your hospital design ideas
Hallways to patient rooms need to be a space for resting as well as for moving. Even a short hallway may feel like a long journey for patients. However, thanks to the edge-safe wall cladding fabricated with HIMACS Arctic White, nurse station desk designed with Edessa, the hallway turns out to be a hotel-like ambience, helping patients feel less nervous on the way to their homes.
HIMACS handrails and seating fabricated with Urban Concrete and Alpine White color designed for short resting are seamlessly integrated into the walls using three-dimensional thermoforming to make hallways safe and comfortable for patients. In particular, considering that hallways are one of the places where patients mostly come into contact with each other, hygienic HIMACS solid surface with a non-porous and seamless design can help ensure cleanliness.
Qualities of HIMACS Solid Surface that Best Meets Hospital Design Material Standards
To be included in the hospital’s list of approved products, materials must meet the highest standards of cleanliness and functionality.
Cleanliness and sanitation issues that are so critical in any healthcare facilities are doubly important around these young patients. Newborns in this unit are among the most vulnerable patients in the hospital. They are admitted to the unit if they are born premature, experience problems during delivery, or develop health issues in their first few days of life.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital has a set of approved project materials, which includes HIMACS solid surface material.
Below are the reasons why HIMACS was chosen as the highly approved material for this project :
HYGIENIC
A space with many seams is difficult to maintain cleanly and therefore is not suitable for healthcare facilities. HIMACS solid surface material’s seamless manipulation and non-porous nature create extremely hygienic, easy-to-clean surface that is ideally suited for use in hospitality and healthcare. The seamless HIMACS surface leaves no space for bacterial growth, ensures easy cleaning, and helps maintain environments that are always hygienic.
SAFE MATERIAL
Indoor air is a medium for transferring numerous contaminants that may lead to secondary infection. The selection of surface materials needs to be carefully considered to prevent the materials from releasing harmful substances to the air. HIMACS has been awarded the GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Gold certificate proving its safety to be used for children who are the most sensitive to indoor air pollution. Additionally, HIMACS boasts a VOC emission of 0.0% and helps improve indoor air quality.
DURABILITY
Materials used in healthcare facilities with high traffic of people must be highly durable; otherwise, their continuous maintenance can lead to significant costs. HIMACS solid surface does not suffer from scratches, cracks, and fractures due to its superior materials properties. In addition, HIMACS has strong heat resistance and maintains its original state even after being exposed to heat at 170 °C for 1 hour. With HIMACS, even strong contaminants stay on top of the coated surface layer and can be easily removed. Its seamless design also provides an environment that is easy to clean and helps maintain cleanliness.
THREE-DIMENSIONAL & THERMOFORMING
HIMACS solid surface can be molded into any size or three-dimensional shape, perfect for the unique design desired by the unit’s front desk staff. One of the most important goals of healthcare providers is to enhance patient experience. The ability to create safe and creative designs is important to achieve this goal.
HIMACS enables designs that are difficult to create with other materials through 3D thermoforming capabilities. In particular, HIMACS Intense Ultra enables precision processing down to 6 mm inner diameter to offer a completely new design dimension for patient experience.
As such, HIMACS solid surface material’s interior solutions, which have been developed based on a wide range of global research and product development customized for healthcare, increase not only the satisfaction of customers who use the space but also that of staff who manages the space.
Check out LX Hausys HIMACS solid surface collection and get inspirations for your hospital reception area interior design project.