Medical Interior Design Isn’t For Neophytes (Link Roundup)
The skills that are involved in your choice of colors, lighting, and layout are all based on creativity. Finding fabrics, paint, wallpapers, and flooring all need to adhere to what’s dictated by the government as there are certain codes to be followed. This can become a challenge especially when you have been tasked to help with the medical interior design.
Hospital interiors – all of them – are required to be fire retardant. If you would take the time to list all of the flame retardants in the world, you would be amazed at the number that you could come up with.
All other resources for hospital interior design are quite limited. You must be extremely familiar with the companies manufacturing hospital necessities.
A Vast Difference
There is a huge difference when you’re working on a doctor’s office and when you have to provide the design for a large medical complex. Almost every interior designer has the capacity to design any random doctor’s office as this just boils down to the proper lobby and main office layout. Over the years, these lobbies and offices have grown to be more stylish. Oftentimes, the doctors fully delegate the entire project to an interior designer. As a result, many doctor’s offices have turned out to be artistic masterpieces.
The medical interior design is a totally different genre. It is a greater undertaking as it requires more people on your design team and it may even require years to complete. What’s great about this for the lead designer is that it can be financially lucrative for him and his team in the long run.
Hospitals and other health facilities all must have designs that observe correct architectural practices. They must also be able to conform to functional programs as well as applicable codes such as building code, fire code, sanitation code, laws on accessibility, plumbing regulations, electrical code, and other technical guidelines. Hospital interior design also needs to follow the construction guidelines.
One of the most important aspects that should be considered when building a medical complex is its overall environment. It must be accessible to the community at all times. It must also be unexposed to smoke, noise, dust, flood and foul odors. It must also be a good distance away from freight yards, railroads, airports, children’s playground, disposal and industrial plants.
Any building that was previously designed for a different purpose must never be turned into a hospital, even a spa. All zoning ordinances must be met by the hospital that is about to be built.
Safety is of utmost importance; the building must be constructed in a way that it won’t be hazardous to the life and safety of the personnel, patients and the public. The building must be able to withstand harsh weather elements and extreme weight.
Exits must be built where doors lead to the outside of the building, on the interior and exterior stairs, also on the ramp. There should be no less than two exits that should be located as far away as possible from each other.
Patient movement must also be considered as there will be stretchers, beds and wheelchairs all about. The circulation routes must be free at all costs so that bringing of patients from one area to the next will be hazard-free.
Hospital corridors must be wide enough; there must be a ramp or elevator on the clinical and nursing areas leading to the upper floors.
Hospital lighting should be sufficient to provide healing, comfort and recovery. The medical professionals must also be able to perform their work without difficulty. There must also be adequate ventilation for everyone in the building. Visual and auditory privacy must be observed, hence, the sound level must be controlled by the acoustical designs inside the building.
Indeed, medical interior design isn’t for everyone. This is not your typical project of acquiring sturdy wall, ceiling and floor materials anymore. If you want to become an expert at this, then find out how you can study and become an expert in hospital interior design.
