The 3 Keys to Creating Welcoming Spaces.

Everyone wants the best experience possible – whether that’s going on a vacation, watching a movie, dining out or ordering carryout, buying a car … you name it!

This desire translates to all areas of life…even hospital stays. The Center for Medicaid Services conducts surveys to gauge a patient’s ranking of the care and treatment they receive. And healthcare being such a competitive arena, the provider networks and hospital systems do all they can to make sure the patient has a good treatment outcome and a good experience.

Hotel stays … the same. It’s all about the guest experience. What amenities are offered? How good is the breakfast buffet or restaurant? Was the guest room bathroom clean?

Now, certainly, interactions with the staff are likely the key to satisfaction – how those folks treat us adds a lot to – or can detract from – the overall experience.

But, let’s focus on the facility itself with these 3 Keys to Creating Welcoming Spaces.

No discussion of facility design or management in our world today can ignore the topic of cleanliness. COVID-19 is changing how facilities are designed, and has altered the housekeeping protocols in every building.

We can take a lesson from Bea Spolidoro, an architect writing in an
article entitled: How architecture can defend us from germs, bacteria, and viruses like COVID-19, says:

“What we can do as Architects is to be smart about the surfaces that we choose and the detailing we include in our projects. We can learn a lot from hospital design and from the food industry. Choosing materials easy to clean and non-porous surfaces is also recommended.”

Plus, not only has the frequency of clearing increased, but housekeeping is using more of the strongest, broad spectrum bactericides and virucides. It’s going to become increasingly important to specify interior products that can stand up to rigorous cleaning.

A good habit to pick up is “spherical vision” – that’s our term for looking all around and up and down. Meaning:

We look at walls and doors because those are in our normal visual plane. But don’t forget to also look up and down – meaning at the ceiling and floor as well.

We know this suggestion seems obvious – but missing a water-stained ceiling tile, a dead light bulb or a chipped floor tile means you’re missing appearance flaws. Worse, with water-staining, you might have a serious rain infiltration or plumbing problem.

The point we’re making here is to be constantly vigilant to spot consumer turnoffs.

We’ll admit facility appearance upkeep is a never-ending cycle … just when you put in all new stuff, it isn’t long before the damage starts to show.

There’s wisdom in developing a life-cycle mindset to enhance user satisfaction while reducing costs (from damage and repair) over the long term. Sometimes durability gets sacrificed in the name of aesthetics … we get that … sometimes you just want “the look.” But, be aware it’s a trade-off, and there’s risk of damage happening sooner and more often.