A Storied Healthcare Facility

AUGUST 16, 2022|

Background

Wendy Jung is a graphic designer and the owner of the graphic design firm, Jung Design. She is a seasoned designer specializing in healthcare and government design. Her direct client was the Alameda General Services Agency (GSA) and Highland Hospital.

Highland Hospital is a renowned regional trauma center in Oakland, California. Founded in 1927, they provide care to the residents of Alameda County. Interestingly, their high traffic emergency department was the subject of an award- winning 2012 documentary – The Waiting Room.

The Challenge

The project’s goal was to showcase the hospital’s rich history. To capture the history of the nurses and the nursing school that was once there. And to also tell the story of the healing gardens and landscape, and the old Spanish architecture, since the building has gone through multiple remodels and additions over the years.

Specifically, the project was to cover two long walls with high quality visuals in a new, highly trafficked walkway connecting the emergency department to the main hospital. And one of the posed challenges was taking old, low-quality archival images and turning them into large-scale wall murals. We partnered with a high- quality local scanner to get high-quality images we scaled up 80 times.

•   Wall murals:

• 3M IJ48 PVC-free wall vinyl with a matte laminate
• Images: Archive images provided by hospital, scanned at 24,000 dpi & enlarged 9,000%

•   Acrylics:

• 3M IJ40 clear laminated with Orafol 3640
• Black contour-cut vinyl for captions
• Metal standoffs

The Results

Project size: Two corridor walls. Each wall was approximately 31-feet long by 9-feet tall.

Getting clarity

The first challenge was converting the hospital’s low-quality vintage photographs from the 1930s into large-scale wall murals. To do this, we partnered with a high- quality local scanner who could scan at 24,000 dpi and higher. This gave us high- quality, digitized images we could scale up 80 times.

Selecting superior materials for the job

The wall mural material we recommended and was selected is 3M’s PVC-free wall vinyl with a matte laminate. The murals need the laminate because they’re located in a heavy traffic area to and from the busy emergency department. This means the wall takes a lot of bumps and scratches from the carts and beds constantly traveling through this area.

Paying attention to the details

In addition to the wall murals, the project included 32 acrylic panel graphics. The challenge here was to protect the images from scratches and oils for touching. To do this, we reverse printed the images on a clear 3M vinyl. Then we wet-applied the graphics to the acrylic panel’s backside. The result was a clear image for the viewer with nice, rich colors

Highlighting what’s important through colors and layers

We mounted the acrylic graphic panels to the walls using metal standoffs. This allowed for layering of additional colored panels behind the images to give a nice, dimensional look for the walls. This layering also allowed the caption text to be added for each image to help tell the stories.

Providing samples and proof of concept

The design and decision-making phase of the project spanned over several months. Several hospital departments were involved, so SpeedPro’s additional role in design was to provide samples and mockups to help prove the concepts to all the shareholders. We partnered with Jung Design throughout the process to keep each other informed and generate new ideas for the hospital.

Patience, persistence, and planning for fast installation

With this proactive design assistance with Jung, once design was complete, we were well-positioned to move quickly to bring the design to reality. When the hospital approved the design, SpeedPro printed and installed the project within two weeks. Through careful planning and project management, the actual installation took less than five hours. With no mess or disruption to the hospital’s walkway traffic.

Saving the budget

The decision to use wall murals and acrylic graphic panels helped keep this project in budget. It eliminated any structural changes to the walls or addition of any power or data infrastructure to support digital displays. And the hospital got a more visually impacting display than their original plan could have given them. By choosing the right materials and applications, the design team was able to help make their dream come true.

CONCLUSION

In today’s healthcare facilities (or any building type), there is a story to tell. Whether it’s a history wall, recognition of donors who made the project possible, or telling the story of the company’s brand.

Highland Hospital and Jung Design saw the value of working with a professional graphics provider and installer like SpeedPro. A design partner who understands the right materials and applications to help them tell their story through visual graphics. And can help them make it happen in a minimally invasive way. So the facility can easily keep moving with business-as-usual during the installation.

SpeedPro East Bay provided them with the design input and quick installation they needed to make the project a success. While eliminating the typical construction headaches

And the final product has gotten so much positive feedback, the hospital is looking at other opportunities to add wall graphics throughout their healing environments.