On the morning of April 7, work began on a 207,000-square-foot, 1,024-bed emergency field hospital on the State University of New York Old Westbury campus, just outside New York City. Twelve days later, the $116.5 million medical facility was declared finished.
This construction triumph is tempered by the fact that it’s an emergency response to the global pandemic. Still, it’s good to know what can be achieved through resourcefulness when every second counts.
Now as offices, stores, and schools nationwide take steps to cautiously reopen, architects, designers, and product specifiers are facing new questions of resourcefulness: How should they address washroom health and safety concerns? Who can they turn to for expert advice when official guidelines and scientific understanding are changing so quickly?
Few appreciate that challenge better than Mark Schiller and Cyrus Boatwalla, senior executives at ASI Group. ASI was part of the team behind the Old Westbury hospital. The company’s manufacturing facility in Georgia dropped everything to produce dozens of custom-designed washroom partitions for the new emergency hospital complex.
Today the washroom plays a central role in winning the trust and confidence of wary employees, students, customers, or staff. If the washroom environment feels unsafe, so does everything else.
Much of that safety margin comes down to choice and experience. For example, specifying a soap or sanitizer dispenser that locks a client into a proprietary solution is a disaster if the product supply runs out because of unexpected demand or supply chain issues.
The great lesson from dozens of washroom updates? Think choice and experience when selecting a washroom accessory supplier, Schiller and Boatwalla say.
- Availability of Choice. “Don’t lock yourself in with a proprietary washroom accessory,” Schiller says. Boatwalla agrees: “If a client is locked into a single-product supplier, it’s a problem. You want to minimize supply chain issues. Work with suppliers that represent a variety of choices.”
- Trusted Advisor. Impartial problem solving can be difficult during a rapidly evolving pandemic. A few companies, like ASI, offer architects and designers the kind of balanced, independent counsel that’s required because of a product line built on diversity. If one product doesn’t fit the requirement, another one can be offered. The solution is never forced.
“If there was ever a time to lean on a smart, experienced representative, it’s now. You want proven practical solutions. You want to know what works in New York, Houston, London, Tokyo, or Paris,” Boatwalla says. Local ASI representatives can share the best washroom practice from here and abroad.
The washroom represents less than 1% of the building cost. But it puts 100% of the building owner’s investment at risk if the washroom is a turn-off. Play it smart. Work with suppliers that offer choice and experience as ways to minimize risk for everyone.
Learn more about successful washroom design at https://americanspecialties.com/.
