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Materials play key role as Nashville’s Inner Design Studio works to make healthcare environments more comfortable
Rebecca Donner fell in love with creating healthcare environments when she was first exposed to designing them more than 25 years ago, but she believed they could be more inviting and comfortable–more hospitable, if you will. She pursued that idea with a passion, and it’s safe to say she has never looked back.
Donner owns Inner Design Studio in Nashville, and designing healthcare facilities with hospitality in mind is what she and her nine co-workers do. The approach has been successful: The company is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and it has completed more than 880 projects across 42 states—plus a few international projects—and holds seven state licenses.
“I just found there were different ways to approach things,” Donner said of her awakening about healthcare design. “When I started in the early 1990s, it had this very clinical look to it. And I believed we could make it look nicer—not more residential but more hospitality.”
Among elements that help create the right feel are materials, and Donner is a fan of laminates.
“We are huge proponents of laminate,” she said. “I think for the money and for the look, it’s fantastic.”
A free-standing addiction treatment center in Salem, Virginia, completed in 2017, offers great examples of strategic use of composite panels with decorative surfaces. The reception desk at Mount Regis Center is made of Wilsonart Park Elm high pressure laminate, with Frosty White as a backdrop. The vertical side panels in patient areas are made of Pionite Tiramisu HPL.
When Donner first got out of college, she worked mostly on museums and homes. When the economy slowed, she moved to a firm that specialized in healthcare, and her passion was ignited.
“I fell in love with it. I loved the challenges. There is never a dull day, and there is constant collaboration—whether it’s with architects, engineers or code enforcers. And I like how fast it moves compared to the residential and museum world.”
Donner decided to go out on her own with the support of a key client, and she slowly grew her client base by following a marketing strategy of “never make anybody mad.”
“Healthcare, especially in Nashville, is very connected,” she said.
Donner started working with one healthcare provider, which was bought by another. She then worked for the buyer, and people from the first provider moved to a different one and hired Inner Design. “And so on and so on. And that’s really how I built my business—one at a time and just keeping everybody happy.”
As she thought more about how to bring hospitality to healthcare, she attended hospitality shows and began introducing different elements to her designs, making hospital lobbies feel more like hotels, for example.
“It might be decorating the lobby with nicer lamps and nicer arrangements or end tables. Or other small things—decorative mirrors in bathrooms as opposed to what was typical. I just started to work harder at finding things that were outside of what was expected in healthcare.”
Among the firm’s first big projects reflecting the approach was the TriStar StoneCrest Medical Center in Smyrna, Tennessee, in 2003. Medical center officials were leery of the building looking too fancy, given the mounting focus on affordable healthcare, so Donner had to convince them that cherry laminate for the vertical surfaces on the casework was economical as well as functional and beautiful.
“I remember when we had the open house,” Donner recalled, “one of the presidents took me aside and said, ‘I can’t get over how warm it feels. This is so inviting.’”
As for current trends, Donner noted that “the psychology behind design” is playing a bigger role. “There is a big push for evidence-based design, and we’re starting to get an audience. As designers, we’ve known this for some time, but our hospitals are now listening to us.”
For example, allowing more daylight into a hospital translates into quicker recovery times, Donner noted, and minimizing stressors such as overwhelming signage can positively affect patients. Turning down light levels in corridors after 8 p.m. also helps.
“We’re learning how to take these stressors out. They sound very small, but they are making a difference.”
When it comes to selecting materials, Donner said four factors come into play, and laminates often meet all of the requirements.
“First, is it code compliant? Second, we look at durability—if it can take the abuse that we see in a healthcare setting. Obviously, it’s different in an emergency room compared to an overnight stay area for a patient who had cosmetic surgery. Third, we look at cleanability. Is this surface going to hold bacteria or not?
“And lastly, budget dictates everything. It can be the best thing in the world, but if you can’t afford it, it is thrown out.”
Inner Design’s love of laminates has led it become creative in their use and incorporating them with other materials, such as a Corian, quartz or others.
While laminates are “everywhere” in Inner Design’s buildings, it’s critical that everything coordinates, so the firm looks to manufacturers that can provide products that match elements required in healthcare settings, such as corner guards, crash rails and hand rails.
“Right now, the top ones are Wilsonart, Formica and Nevamar. I think they are doing the best job when it comes to looking at other materials we have to use for wall protection and other things,” she said.
When it chooses wood-inspired laminates, Inner Design emphasizes fashionable patterns and colors.
“There was a time where we couldn’t get anything but oak. Oak was laminate. And maple, to a degree. And then we started getting cherrys, and now walnuts are popular. So it’s companies that stay on trend, that coordinate with the furnishings that we’re going to use. Those are the ones that tend to stand out.”
Among Inner Design’s preferred software programs is AutoCAD, rendered with Photoshop and Revit, Donner said. While the firm doesn’t choose hardware, it sometime specifies metal trim on casework. It especially likes Futura’s aluminum extrusions used as slim-line cornerguards, “which are low profile and don’t distract from our designs but protect the edges of plastic laminate,” she said.
For the Mount Regis Center in Salem, Inner Design enhanced the hospitality by using higher-end lighting, including wall sconces and ceiling-mounted fixtures, and incorporating textures, such as the white stone veneer wall outside the facility’s intake rooms, which were accented with a patterned wall covering.
Along with HPL for the reception desk, the firm mixed Cambria quartz countertops, and it capped the HPL-clad patient dividers with white Corian and 3form polyresin. The nurses station features Wilsonart’s Park Elm and Arborite Crème Chamois.
For the Forrest Health Orthopedic Institute in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the budget was higher than usual because orthopedic hospitals typically have large revenue streams. That allowed Inner Design to add high-end finishes and accents. Green accent panels are made of 3form Varia Ecoresin in the color of Linen Moss, while wood accents throughout are Shaker Cherry HPL from Wilsonart. All vertical surfaces are HPL, and countertops are made of Nevamar’s Tea Stain Spun Yarn.
“In general, we use many kinds of laminates throughout our facilities, but we especially favor HPL for vertical surfaces on casework, and we use melamine (thermally fused laminate) for the interior of our cabinets. We use 3DL for our nurse stations,” Donner said.
Among Inner Design’s partners in creating healthcare environments is the CCI Group of Longview, Texas, which manufactures laminate-clad casework for medical facilities, institutional and other commercial projects.
James Hodges of CCI concurred that laminate cabinets are ideal for medical facilities.
“Healthcare providers want to create positive patient experiences while maintaining function, durability, and cleanability,” he said. “Utilizing plastic laminate can help design professionals meet these goals.”
Laminates are impervious and therefore don’t allow dirt, mold or other hazardous materials to absorb, Hodges said, and they can be cleaned with sanitizing agents without harming the finishes. HPL for exterior surfaces is durable and cleanable, while thermally fused laminate works well on interiors, he said.
Functionality, however, isn’t all that laminates offer. The wide variety of colors and patterns allows designs that are best suited for the environment.
“Bright colors and creative patterns may work for a pediatric clinic, where soft woodgrain patterns may make an 
adult patient feel comfortable,” said Hodges, adding that many woodgrain laminates are difficult to distinguish from the real thing. “This allows the design professional to give the care space a warm look while maintaining a durable and sanitary surface.”
The Plano Surgery Center in Texas was among the projects on which Inner Design and the CCI Group collaborated. Inner Design created a color palette that included a warm woodgrain laminate on the cabinet exteriors, as well as the walkthrough doors. Thermally fused laminate was used on the cabinet interiors, making the surfaces easy to clean, as well.
“The result was a warm, inviting space that was part of a positive patient experience from the moment they walked in the door until they left,” Hodges said.
In other words, it’s clear that as Inner Design Studio—working with firms such as the CCI Group–moves into its next quarter century and continues promoting hospitality in healthcare, the warmth, durability and functionality of laminates ensure they will increasingly be an important part of the material mix.
