Countertops In Healthcare Environments Choosing the right countertop is a serious consideration for healthcare environments. The main considerations when choosing a healthcare countertop are the sanitization, cleanability, durability, aesthetic and long-term value for the facility. In a healthcare setting, you’re worried about the material itself, but also the system into which it is incorporated. This means the most resilient materials are irrelevant if they don’t integrate well into the environment.

What is Institutional Casework Institutional casework can seem hard to define. It’s not commercial cabinetry, nor is it residential. Institutional is it’s own category, but it shares similarities with commercial casework that can make it hard to distinguish. There are some properties applicable to institutional casework which set it apart from other categories. To begin with, institutional casework is designed for longevity, durability, safety and functionality. These qualities are required

History of fume hoods One of the first modern-era fume hoods goes back to Thomas Jefferson [when he used a local chimney to vent harmful gasses at the University of Virginia]. Jefferson built a hearth with a bottom made of sand and specifically designed flues to exhaust harmful gases. Later, Thomas Edison would follow Jefferson’s example and create what is considered to be the very first design documented fume hood.

A history of lab workstations Thomas A. Edison’s famous laboratories at Menlo Park and West Orange, New Jersey, are icons of the modern age of innovation and discovery. He boasted that his lab was the “best equipped & largest Laboratory extant, and the facilities incomparably superior to any other for rapid & cheap development of an invention, & working it up into commercial shape.” Edison set his sights on innovation

A History Of Lab Countertops Laboratory work dishes out a lot of abuse. Harsh chemicals, heavy equipment, constant handling of reagent and sample containers, not to mention exposure to heat and water, would tear up a common countertop. That is why there is a special category of worksurfaces that are deemed appropriate for the laboratory setting. In the past, lab work was performed on quarried stone slabs, and Soapstone was

COVID-19 Overwhelm As the economy reopens and employees return to work, there are concerns about how equipped the medical and pharmaceutical communities are to deal with predicted spikes in COVID cases. According to the CDC, “covid-19 cases will surge to about 200,000 per day by June 1.” As COVID cases increase, labs are becoming overwhelmed trying to handle the influx of cases. As of the beginning of April, private labs

Why Is Ventilation Important? To a person who isn’t constantly immersed in a lab environment, ventilation can often be forgotten or at least have its importance significantly downplayed. In reality, without proper ventilation, there can be significant risk to the lives and well-being of workers, liability for others present in the building, as well as potential damage to the laboratory environment. According to OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), employers

Projects Can’t Start Too Early We’ve all been there before. The deadline is looming large and you’re sweating because the lead time on your furniture puts install at 2 weeks after the project “drop dead date.” Your client is breathing down your neck and the only answers you’ve got put the blame on them. Maybe it’s true, it’s their fault, but saying so isn’t a great career move. It’s pretty

You Hate Hearing It, We Hate Saying It Every architect or designer has felt the pain of late deliveries, and we know you hate hearing the following from us: Unfortunately, that laminate is not in stock and it will take an extra four weeks, on top of the regular lead time, to get the cabinets to you. As we’ve discussed in some of our other blogs, getting casework installed on

Maybe You’ve Heard of Waldner But, in case you haven’t, here’s a little background. Waldner Laboratory Solutions is a German company that builds laboratory casework and furniture solutions structured on a modular unit system. In layman’s terms, Waldner builds REALLY flexible lab casework and furniture. They’ve been doing it for more than 60 years and are the global leader in highly sophisticated lab systems. Their products include fume hoods, benches,