A unit for treating teenage and young adult cancer patients completed last year at Southampton General Hospital has been colourfully fitted out with Tarkett flooring.
The facility was funded entirely by the Teenage Cancer Trust, and designed to be as comfortable as possible. It incorporates six en suite bedrooms, a four-bed day unit, social space, and support facilities, with the bright and engaging décor created using a variety of Tarkett flooring.
Representing the Trust, and leading the project, was architect Mark Maffey, from Studio Mode. He said: “Suddenly finding yourself in hospital can be disorientating, particularly for young people, so creating a safe, welcoming space was essential. To do this we consulted directly with the young people who would be using the centre to help create a space that represented who they were – no longer children, but not quite adults. They were deeply involved in every aspect of the design and layout. Key was the use of easily identifiable areas that clearly demarcated the differing functions of each space.”
For this reason bright, colourful flooring was chosen for the treatment areas, and calmer, wood effect flooring, for areas for rest and relaxation.
Mark Maffey explained: “Via this approach, this the flooring told an emotive story. The colourful floors of the treatment rooms meet the wood effect floor of the safe social areas as a diagonal line running down the centre of the corridor. This impactful design statement further enhances the distinction between each space, and strikes a line through the heart of the scheme – taking patients from their point of entry to the lounge. Deliberately created to reference a student common room, the lounge represents all that is normal – something yearned for by the young patients.”
The Tarkett flooring used included iQ Optima in Yellow, Medium Blue, and Green; iQ Eminent in Turquoise, and Acczent Excellence 80 in Bamboo. Throughout the project, the architect consulted with Tarkett’s specification team on the flooring best suited to the environment / application. He added: “What made the project such a success was the buy-in from all those involved – certainly true of the Tarkett team, who understood what we were trying to do, and provided excellent technical support. The flooring went down easily, and the finished project has been widely commended – especially by the young adults now using the centre.”
Tarkett’s iQ range is described as ‘a hard-wearing, durable floor with a huge spectrum of colours, patterns, and effects, that allows designers and specifiers the opportunity to get creative in a variety of environments’. It incorporates 25% recycled content, and is itself ‘100% recyclable’.
