Door Openings and Functionality

Beyond access control, architects must also recognize the importance of maintaining the functionality of a door or opening and how to design a health-care building with that functionality in mind. Oftentimes, this means finding the right hardware.

One new product type to help meet this goal is a three-way adjustable hinge system, which has been used successfully in Europe for many years in high-frequency institutional, commercial, and industrial applications, such as office buildings, schools, hospitals, and airports. Typically, continuous hinges are used in applications requiring robust hinges in North America. However, now there is a hinge system of a similar durability with an additional three-way adjustability feature.

Rudy Kessler, CEO of SIMONSWERK North America, explains, “Nearly every hinge in any European health-care facility is adjustable. When I moved to the United States, I saw the difficulty in maintaining a common commercial door. I wondered why they were going through such trouble and saw the opportunity for adjustable hinges. With recent advancements, there is now the ability to bring this type of system to a North American market and educate the architectural community on how adjustable, heavy-duty hinges can simplify the overall maintenance of an opening.”

Photo courtesy of SIMONSWERK North America

The correct door hardware, including hinge systems, can be a key factor in maintaining functionality within a health-care facility.

DOOR OPENING DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE: ADJUSTABLE HINGE SYSTEM

Images courtesy of SIMONSWERK North America

This illustration shows a standard commercial hinge (left) and a three-way adjustable hinge (right).

The functionality of a door opening is a crucial life/safety requirement for any commercial buildings, health care or otherwise—especially fire doors. If a door cannot be opened or closed, an entire section or area of a building may be closed off. Common door problems, like door sagging or warpage, require door assembly adjustments to maintain the functionality and meet these life/safety requirements. Standard hinges, such as butt hinges or continuous hinges, generally do not offer a three-dimensional adjustment feature. Without an adjustment feature on the hinge, the repair options are limited to resetting and/or shimming a hinge, modifying an existing hinge, re-machining a door, and/or un- and reinstalling the frame. It is often required to refinish an existing wall when a frame is reinstalled. Any modifications to a hinge can compromise the integrity of the entire hinge assembly. These repair options are time consuming and disruptive—not to mention, expensive.

The three-way adjustable hinge system described earlier was developed for wide, heavy-duty doors that require a robust and stable hinge and have maintenance-free slide bearing technology. Some other features to look for are corrosion resistance, fire and smoke protection, and ADA compliance that can include lower force and less friction, which could lower any interruptive costs.

HINGE SYSTEM ENSURES SMOOTH PATH: UNIVERSITY CLINIC, JENA, GERMANY

Photo courtesy of SIMONSWERK North America

An adjustable hinge system was used in the University Clinic project in Jena, Germany.

As discussed earlier, there is an adjustable hinge product that is new to the North American market but has been used successfully in Europe for many years in health-care applications. One such project is the “Universitätsklinikum Jena” or University Clinic in Jena, Germany. This campus was originally developed from individual buildings and now features a common area where the city is intertwined with the landscape. From the north, the campus was deliberately left open so that visitors can walk directly to the slopes of a nearby park. If you enter the new main entrance, you come upon a large garden hall, which connects the existing hospital buildings with the new buildings.

The initial construction was completed in 2004 and the second phase in 2013. The new building, with an additional usable area of more than 500,000 square feet, was completed in November of 2016. This building section has 710 patient beds, 12 operating rooms, three medical centers, two research buildings, and 15 clinics and institutes, as well as research and teaching facilities.

With regard to special requirements in hospitals, safety and efficiency play a large role in the planning and subsequent daily routine of hospitals. The demand for function, quality, and logistics in these buildings help ensure effective workflows. Patient beds, wheelchairs, or medical devices must be able to move seamlessly between the rooms and through the room doors. To ensure a smooth transport and a complete path through the doors, the builder and the architects decided to use a specialized hinge system.

With this particular hinge system, the dimensions of the frames always remain real through dimensions, as the doors can be opened completely to a 90-degree angle. Through the use of this hinge technology, the door leaf completely pivots out of the frame and opens the entire door width for a path through the opening. The door leaf does not restrict the door width and ensures smooth passage, even with beds or medical devices.

Walls and Curtains

Flexible Wall Protection

Beyond doors and door hardware, walls and wall protection is another area of importance in designing successful health-care facilities. As an example, there is a trend toward flexible wall protection with products that offer the ultra-durable performance of rigid sheet wall protection but in a flexible product, and are also available in an assortment of patterns and colors to match any décor.

A new generation of products is now available that combine the flexibility to become the showpiece of any interior, yet are durable enough to handle the harshest environments. Thomas Larwa, senior product manager at Inpro, explains the trend, noting, “Until now, designers have had to either compromise the look of their design with a traditional product or sacrifice preserving interiors for aesthetics. There are products in the market today, such as specialized flexible wall protection, that offer the aesthetic of wall covering but are very resilient.”

Antimicrobial Protection

Further, these products are not only able to resist the wear and tear that walls in health-care facilities receive, but they also fend off stains (and even graffiti), which can be removed completely from the surface, without damage, using the strongest of standard liquid cleaners. Silane-based antimicrobial fabrics are used for privacy and shower curtains, helping to fight odor-causing bacteria, mold, and mildew, along with the superior stain resistance mentioned above and being liquid repellent—making them ideal for cubicle curtains, shower curtains, window treatments, and bedspreads.

Another option being employed is the use of snap-panel curtains, which allow for easy change-outs of soiled panels. Both antimicrobial fabric and snap-panel curtains reduce the need for major laundering of curtains. When combined with standard track, these curtains are the better choice over certain proprietary curtain systems that end up locking the end user into higher-cost products, which can be very expensive over time. The idea is to help keep a facility cleaner and avoid higher expenses to do so.

Photo courtesy of Inpro

Antimicrobial cubicle curtains were installed at the new Parkland Hospital in Dallas.

Curtain Tracks and Privacy

Bendable privacy curtain tracks are another option, allowing curtains to be placed in any configuration. An additional benefit is the track and carriers are quieter, which can be an added benefit to a hospital’s overall noise-reduction program to help speed healing.