Herman Miller Healthcare: Herman Miller compass - Designed for changing healthcare environments

By ahhb
Monday, 16 March, 2015

Herman Miller Healthcare introduces a new category of modular furniture to Australia with its Compass System. Compass revolutionises how designers and end-users address the constant state of change in healthcare spaces, all while providing a consistently superior experience for patients, families and staff.

Compass was designed with change in mind. Its approach to furnishing healthcare interiors includes structural, surface and storage components that provide unexpected levels of flexibility. It enables healthcare providers to reduce costs through a functional design that helps improve efficiency, quality of care and delivery, and the process of planning and installing.

Herman Miller Compass-Designed for changing healthcare environments

For over two years, Herman Miller gathered observations from more than 550 individuals —from nurse managers to hospital administrators—to identify the four primary needs of this dynamic environment. The furnishing attributes ranked as most important included accommodating changes in technology, providing patient and family comfort, healthcare appropriate functionality, and supporting caregiver efficiency, all which served as key drivers in the design and development of Compass.
Compass’ True North: Quality of Care
As a valuable and needed solution for a variety of healthcare spaces, especially acute care and outpatient facilities, Compass is an essential component to creating a welcoming aesthetic within a patient room. Beyond its visual appeal, Compass also provides an array of benefits that contribute to improving the experience of working, visiting and healing:
Infection Prevention: Its innovative sink and faucet design reduces splashing—a major contributor to the spread of infection—while its combination of seamless, wrapped surfaces and overlapping tiles minimize the potential for liquids to seep into unseen areas.
Greater Cleanability: With Compass intentionally designed to be raised off the floor, the room can be cleaned quickly and thoroughly. The added space also maximizes the feeling of openness—a critical consideration in the context of increasingly smaller healthcare spaces.
Flexibility: A necessity in today’s healthcare environment, Compass’ ability to be easily assembled, disassembled, reconfigured and refreshed affords healthcare organizations the opportunity to implement ongoing workflow and efficiency improvements without room demolition or care interruption.
Available in a palette featuring a range of options suited for traditional or contemporary healthcare settings, the Compass System’s tiles, components and shelves are available in eight standard, 99.9 percent PVC-free Durawrap finishes, including woodgrain and solid finishes. Additionally, an extensive customisation program offers specifiers the ability to select the ideal colour and pattern. Work surfaces are available in 15 Corian colours and with the option of integrated backsplashes to support cleanability.
Compass was developed according to Herman Miller’s industry-leading Design for the Environment protocol, which emphasizes recyclability of materials, recycled content and ease of disassembly. It is up to 37 percent recyclable and contains up to 58 percent recycled content. Compass is backed by Herman Miller’s 12-year, 7 day, 3 shift warranty.