Reconsidering Rubber
BY STEPHANIE L’ESTRANGE AND JAMISON DELFINO
Better Design Options, Sustainable Advantages Bring Renewed Relevance
Flooring alternatives for healthcare facilities, such as liquid linoleum and PVC-free vinyl sheeting, tempt owners and designers with promises of better looks, higher performance and greener properties. Each of these has its strengths, and each has its place. In many cases, however, an old, reliable flooring product may best meet the needs of the owner, facility and end users – rubber. This is especially true as priorities shift within the healthcare facilities field. Here are five reasons behind rubber’s resurgence as a flooring material in healthcare settings.
Improved Design Options and Flexibility. For all its advantages, rubber has never been the designers’ top choice for aesthetic purposes. In recent years, vendors expanded the range of color and texture options that can help create warm, comfortable and attractive environments in healthcare facilities. For example, one vendor teamed with a top paint brand to increase its color palette to include 70 distinct shades and over 200 patterns for designers to choose from.
More and bolder options offer flexibility for designers seeking to not only create a look that furthers a project’s goals or an owner’s mission, but also for critical functions such as wayfinding and patient recovery. In a recent project, the interior design team tapped into a variety of therapeutic colors and patterns in rubber flooring to customize an exercise area for patients with autism.
Focus on Noise Reduction. Sound absorption is a major benefit of rubbing flooring. While never overlooked, this trait grows in importance as healthcare experts and practitioners recognize the potentially negative impact that loud, chaotic environments can have on patient and provider well-being.
In an article published in August 2023, titled “Hospitals are noisy. They don’t have to be,” the Association of American Medical Colleges wrote, “Many people with hearing loss or disabilities that heighten sensitivity to sound struggle to hear in the loud, often chaotic environment that is the hospital. Even those without hearing disabilities may suffer amid the incessant beeping of monitors, the frequent alarms, and the competing conversations happening all around them.”
Rubber flooring’s sound-absorbing properties help to reduce noise levels from a wide spectrum of sources. The rule of thumb is that rubber reduces noise level by up to 20 decibels. The resulting quieter, more comfortable environment can lead to better patient outcomes and a happier workforce.
Read the full article here: MCD: March/April 2024 (mydigitalpublication.com)
