Case Study - Valley View Medical Center

You will find many interesting combinations in Fort Mohave, Arizona. The valley sits near the junction of three states: Arizona, California and Nevada. The low-desert climate is noted for its year-round dry, sunny days and low humidity, yet the area is a veritable paradise for water sports enthusiasts who recreate at Lake Mohave, the nearby Colorado River, and other waterways. If you need medical treatment, the region’s new Valley View Medical Center is a place that combines world-class medical care with a singular focus on patient support, or, as the hospital states, “where technology meets compassion.” Inside the 102,000 square-foot acute-care facility, the floors express a combination of a different sort. Multiple Armstrong flooring products create a beautiful interior design that’s also durable and easy to maintain.

The Mohave Valley is one of the fastest growing regions of the country, thanks to its excellent quality of life that attracts retirees, young families, business people and outdoorsmen. The thriving community represents a diverse population that needs accessible and comprehensive health care. Opened in November 2005, the $37 million dollar Valley View Medical Center satisfies this need with 38 medical/surgical beds, 10 rehabilitation beds, a six-bed labor and delivery unit, a six-bed intensive care unit, four major operating rooms and two procedure rooms. Armstrong™ flooring is used in public spaces, corridors, and patient care spaces including emergency, surgery, food service, patient acute care units (PACU), patient rooms and labor/delivery/recovery (LDR) rooms. A team of architects and designers at the Gould Turner Group in Nashville, Tennessee worked with hospital executives to plan the new hospital. The boutique health care design firm has a reputation for designing health care facilities that satisfy the customer’s design goals on schedule and within budget. Interior designer Tiana Lemons says, “We chose Armstrong products because they featured the right colors, and because the company has a history of manufacturing reliable products that have a long life. Although we considered other floor manufacturers’ products for this project, Armstrong was selected because of the designs, colors and competitive pricing.” She adds, “Colors and patterns were used to define visual ‘breaks’ in long corridors and create a rhythm within spaces.” The community’s culture and the region’s breathtaking natural characteristics were integrated into the design. “The curved installation is reminiscent of the nearby Colorado River. The hospital loves that aspect, as well as the warm colors and ease of maintenance,” adds Lemons.

The food service area features softly undulating ribbons of Armstrong POSSIBILITIES® Petit Point™ and TRANSLATIONS™ sheet floors in canyonesque colors of brushed sand, cinnamon, cobalt and sage. Curving walls and ceiling soffits mirror the design flow, creating an overall pleasing and soothing aesthetic. The 100% private patient rooms and adjacent patient-care areas combine six colors of Armstrong Standard EXCELON® Imperial® Texture to create a nurturing atmosphere. The neutral field is brushed sand, interspersed with geometric medallions and borders of cinnamon brown, grayed blue, tea garden green, curried caramel and gentian blue. To create a soothing, homelike feeling in LDR rooms, Armstrong TIMBERLINE® sheet flooring in medium cherry mimics the warmth of natural wood graining and colors. Under the beds, square insets of neutral-colored TRANSLATIONS desert sand add design interest and brightness to the space. For the expansive PACU area, POSSIBILITIES Petit Point and TRANSLATIONS in the same colors as used in the food service area effectively break the large scale area into a visually smaller scale with a repeating geometric design.

Valley View Medical Center was one of the more recent projects, for GTG, but the firm has been using Armstrong flooring for health care clients for its over 25 years of operation. In fact, GTG has an influence on Armstrong’s MEDS™ product collection. “Our design team participates in Armstrong focus groups to help develop and refresh product designs and colors. Armstrong’s product development team has really listened to the health care community to help us with timeless and appropriate colors we can use in health care applications,” Lemons states. For the Valley View project, GTG also relied on the knowledge and expertise of the regional Armstrong flooring representative, and contractor Batten and Shaw, Inc. The floor installation is making a significant design and positive performance impact for the hospital today, and is expected to continue to deliver that performance for at least 20 years.