Delray Medical Center Patient Tower

Introduction

Delray Beach, Florida, is known as a small and intimate town with big-city sophistication, and with that small-town vibe, it has been voted the Most Fun Small Town in America by Rand McNally and USA Today. With a vibrant art and culture community, Delray Beach is the ultimate in sophisticated relaxation and becoming one of the hot spots in Southeast Florida to retire.

The  Story

With the expansive population growth, the Delray Beach Medical Center needed to expand. Earl Swensson & Associates and M.J. Harris Construction Services were tasked with designing and building a new 126,000-square-foot Patient Tower as a comprehensive addition to the existing community hospital. The new facility would increase capacity with 96 new private rooms, two hybrid operating rooms, and a Registration Services Center. On the top of the tower, M.J. Harris constructed a new helipad with direct access to the Emergency Department. Along with the tower expansion, M.J. Harris transformed 96 existing semi-private rooms into single patient rooms in a multiple-phase renovation process that ensured minimal disruptions to patients, staff, and the public.

The team put a great deal of focus on the selection of tile for the bathrooms. Tile is easy to clean and maintain while also providing a more upscale appeal for patients and their families. To achieve both the style and functionality required, the decision makers chose Crossville Porcelain Tile Panels by Laminam, giving the 24 private restrooms a warm, welcoming, and modern feel.

The porcelain tile panels, specified in the Bianco Assoluto colorway, create a natural, peaceful look for the restrooms. With large outer dimensions (1m x 3m) and the ability to skin generous amounts of surface area from panel to panel, these tiles offered efficiency in installation, fewer grout joints, and a more sleek, uninterrupted look. They will also perform beautifully long-term.

“Each section of Laminam is 1m by 3 m. We could not bring pieces that large into the elevators, so we had to measure all the bathrooms and cut the tile to size before we brought it up to the actual installation site,” explained Tom Moore, partner at Professional Flooring Contractors. “We installed the dry packing, shower pans, and waterproofing before we brought in three crews for the Laminam installation. Our crews were trained at the Mapei seminars and the three-day training at Crossville in Tennessee.”