Designer Gianfranco Zaccai tells you how the Compass system came to be.
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Product Story
The perfect healthcare space today will not be perfect tomorrow. Healthcare organizations face an ongoing challenge in managing their facilities: while treatment and care processes continually evolve, many healthcare spaces are not designed to adapt.
Compass helps navigate change. A modular system of interchangeable components for hospital and outpatient facilities, Compass is used to create applications for patient rooms, exam rooms, caregiver work areas, and other clinical spaces.
Flexibility
Designed for change. Compass components are easily assembled, removed, rearranged, and refreshed. Storage can be quickly relocated, headwall utilities can be easily accessed, added, or modified, and damaged product can be easily replaced without demolition. The result is unmatched flexibility.
Designed for Healthcare
Tiles and components are wrapped in Durawrap, a 99.9% PVC-free material that requires no edge banding, resulting in a seamless, cleanable, and durable surface. A shingled seam between tiles and components prevents spills from seeping in gaps and eliminates the spread of infection. Compass meets the rigorous cleaning requirements of healthcare environments.
The modular design of Compass allows nurses and other clinical staff to easily make real-time changes to the patient room environment in response to changes in supply storage, patient acuity, or EMR introduction.
Considerate of All
The overall experience of a Compass environment: a space that's well designed, intuitively organized, and inherently satisfying for everyone who uses it.
Aesthetics were an important design consideration. Architects and designers can easily execute their design vision. Compass is available in a range of finishes that integrates into traditional and contemporary settings.
Intelligent Infrastructure
Compass accommodates the utility needs of healthcare environments. Its intelligent infrastructure manages utilities whether pre-piped/pre-wired, stubbed out, or chased from the ceiling.
The infrastructure was engineered to accommodate imperfections in construction by allowing the system to be leveled so when walls are not flat or plumb, the final solution looks perfect.
Long-Term Value
Intelligent design and efficient installation make the purchase price affordable. Unmatched flexibility minimizes life-cycle costs and delivers great value over time.
To manage inevitable damage and wear-and-tear, Compass' modular design and rail system make it easy to swap out modules whether it's a single tile or an entire wall.
Infection Prevention
The surface edge with its radius and back cut prevents spilled fluids from seeping into drawers and cabinets.
Seamless wrapped surfaces and overlapping tiles minimize the potential for liquids to seep into unseen areas and help control the spread of infection.
Gianfranco Zaccai has been thinking about—and working with—healthcare design for several decades. He believes that "designers need to strive for a better kind of better." What does that mean? "The days of prevailing in the marketplace by producing a better thing or a better service—more desirable, easier to use, easier to manufacture or deliver—are passing," he says. "The winners now will be those who provide customers with the best total experience. People want great experiences."
Cofounder of design firm Continuum, a global innovation and design consultancy, Zaccai brought that forward-looking perspective to bear on the design of the Compass system, his latest design for Herman Miller Healthcare. He wasn't interested in producing a "better" healthcare product—his goal was to create a better healthcare experience.