Challenge

When Mitchell Associates, a firm focused on interior architecture and environmental graphic design services for healthcare, corporate, and education facilities, was chosen to design the John H. "Jack" Burbage, Jr. Regional Cancer Care Center in Berlin, Md., the design team knew that wall treatments would be critical components in the space. With the comfort of the Center’s cancer patients, visitors, and caretakers as the ultimate motivation behind all of the design decisions, the design goal focused on enhancing and humanizing the healthcare experience.

Solution

To execute an optimally comfortable space, the designers chose nature and organic shapes to inform their designs. Soft curves and warm colors are touchstones for both the exterior of the building as well as the interior spaces creating a quiet, calming environment for the patients, staff, and visitors. Having worked with Artaic in the past, the design team knew that Artaic mosaics would be integral to their design plans. Artaic’s SPLASH! and Naturally Refined collections perfectly embodied the natural and organic theme Mitchell Associates implemented.

The 17,917-square-foot John H. "Jack" Burbage, Jr. Regional Cancer Care Center has two mosaics within its reception area and one mosaic in the Linear Accelerator Room.. All installations feature Artaic’s design collections SPLASH! and Naturally Refined — The SPLASH! Collection is a series of free flowing patterns and rich textures inspired by the spontaneous movements of water. Flowing, rippling, bubbling, dripping, and cascading – the collection incorporates gentle lines to create captivating forms; and the Naturally Refined Collection is a series of mosaics inspired by organic patterns and murals deeply rooted in nature.

Once inside, patients are immediately welcomed into the heart of the cancer care center in the form of an elliptical lobby that serves both as a reception area and the hub of patient circulation. Mitchell Associates chose to adorn this space with two sparkling mosaics - one surrounding a skylight in the ceiling and another on the walls to reflect light coming into the space from above. Off of the lobby, the linear accelerator entryway within the radiation oncology therapy facilities is lined with a glass tile mosaic depicting marsh grass. The aesthetic and placement of this mosaic is intended to relieve patient anxiety.

Artaic uses robotic technology and innovative design tools to customize, design and fabricate award-winning mosaics. By combining modern technologies with this historic art form, Artaic creates architecturally compelling mosaics for any size project, from small to large-scale production.