Ceiling solution heightens comfort

Rockfon ceiling panels were used throughout lobbies, patient rooms and exam rooms at the new Friese Family Tower in Tarzana, Calif.

Image by ©James Steinkamp Photography and courtesy of Rockfon

Architects for the Friese Family Tower, the centerpiece of Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana (Calif.) Medical Center, were given many objectives when designing the new 200,000-square-foot facility. 

The health system hired Perkins&Will to design the new tower, which opened in 2023, as part of a full-service health care campus. The tower replaces an existing patient facility as the location for the bulk of acute care inpatient beds. It also features an expanded, modern emergency department; 150 spacious, all-private patient rooms; an inpatient pharmacy; a pediatric unit with a dedicated room for adolescent patients; a cardiovascular unit; a critical care unit; and a healing garden.

Beyond the details of space allocation, Providence also wanted a facility that prioritized patient comfort, infrastructure resiliency and sustainability. Jean-Claude Lesaca, senior project architect and associate at Perkins&Will, says material selection was crucial to meeting all three objectives.

For instance, when it came to creating visually appealing patient rooms, the architecture team paid close attention to an area many patients may see a lot of when resting: the ceiling.

“We want to create a more pleasant environment that contributes to healing,” Lesaca says. “We also want to have less clinical-looking spaces, so we try to use materials that soften the rooms’ design.”

To achieve that, the design team employed stone wool and mineral wool ceiling tiles from Rockfon, a Chicago-based manufacturer, throughout patient rooms, specifically Rockfon Sonar and Rockfon Medical Standard.

The ceiling panels have a white surface with a high light reflectance that maximizes daylight and energy-efficient lighting to illuminate the hospital’s interiors evenly and efficiently. This diffused lighting helps reduce glare on screens and monitors, making it easier for staff to read and concentrate on information critical to patient care.

The panels also contribute to patient comfort through noise reduction. Rockfon’s panels met the facility’s need for a high noise reduction coefficient (NRC) to reduce noise levels and reverberation times. For instance, Rockfon Sonar ceiling panels deliver an NRC up to 0.95 in areas where noise absorption is most crucial.

“We always go for ceiling panels with a high NRC, around a 0.90 or 0.95 NRC, and full-height walls in patient areas,” Lesaca says. “We want high sound absorbing tiles in patient rooms, exam rooms and above nursing staffing areas. Managing noise helps reduce stress. In the exam rooms and patient rooms, it also maintains privacy. You don’t want to hear someone in the room next to you.”

In addition to noise reduction, the approximately 100,000 square feet of Rockfon ceiling panels distributed throughout the facility also contribute to the facility’s sustainability goals. The ceiling panels are certified Greenguard Gold for their low-volatile organic compound emissions and natural resistance to moisture, mold, mildew and other microorganisms.

The ceiling panels themselves are held in place via Rockfon’s Chicago Metallic 4000 Tempra 9/16-inch grid and 1496 Seismic Perimeter Clip, creating a stable structure to help meet local building requirements and contribute to a resilient infrastructure.

“In California, the Department of Health Care Access and Information’s (HCAI’s) seismic requirements are very strict,” Lesaca says. “Rockfon’s Chicago Metallic 1496 Seismic Perimeter Clip was approved for use in the lobby and all patient rooms, offices and service spaces as well as the procedure, triage and exam rooms. We worked with Rockfon to submit a range of reports and documentation to receive approval on the seismic clip. We reviewed and included case studies where it previously had been used. As additional support, a structural engineer provided a memo comparing HCAI pre-approved clips with Rockfon’s Chicago Metallic 1496 Seismic Perimeter Clip to show equivalent compliance.”

Nick Lymberopoulos, chief executive at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center, says the project is not only a success in meeting compliance, sustainability and patient satisfaction goals, but it also ushers in a new phase for the region. 

“The Friese Family Tower marks the beginning of a new era of health care in the San Fernando Valley,” Lymberopoulos says. “We wanted to create a modern, full-service health care campus that could offer Valley residents incredible care incredibly close to home. Today, this vision has become a reality.”