Creation begins with a Blank Canvas.

When designing a hospital room, most people don’t look at medical gases and electrical services as an opportunity for art, but at Modular Services Company (MSC), they see things a little differently.

In early 2008, New Hanover Regional Medical in Wilmington, North Carolina, began the planning phase of a 9-floor Bed Tower renovation project. They were in need of a headwall that was not only clinically and aesthetically unique to the their facility, but incorporated the highest level of quality, would be installed within the proper time frame and within the total design scope.

“For our renovated patient rooms our goal was to find a modular headwall that would appear less clinical and more like a room furnishing element without sacrificing clinical functionality,” said Dan Isenogle, principle of Program Services Group and Program Manager for the New Hanover Project. “Our search led us to Modular Services Company and their Method Headwall System.”

New Hanover came to Modular Services with the request to build a custom headwall that answered their needs, leading to the creation of Modular’s Method™. The Method Headwall is a custom designed headwall system that delivers medical gases and electrical services to the patient environment.  The headwall is built to order and designed to meet the needs of the clinician, architect and the installer. 

The Method Headwall starts with a blank canvas. Through the Method Design process, Modular Services Company strives to meet customers exactly where they are. Whether it's partnering with a specialized team to develop the proprietary design or acting as the contract manufacturer, the Method Process involves listening, researching, humility, flexibility, curiosity and experience.

From the beginning, the MSC team worked with the New Hanover team through several varying designs until they found the one that best satisfied the hospital’s appearance and functionality needs. After constructing a fully appointed mock up of the hospital’s typical patient room, final drawings were developed and the order for 383 headwalls was executed.

Due to the phased nature of the project, New Hanover planned on completing floors for turn over only a few months apart.  Each of the 9 floors housed approximately 44 beds.  The phasing combined with on-site storage limitations required very close coordination of deliveries with MSC.

On any given floor, the customer was able to receive, vertically transport and install all 44 headwalls in 5 days.  They had a crew of 8 that unloaded the truck and transported the headwalls to the floor and room. Then a crew of 4 installed all 44 headwalls in 4 days including trim after electrical and medical gas connections were made.

“I could not be more satisfied with the quality, ease of installation, timing of deliveries and customer support,” said Isenogle.  “I would recommend the Method Headwall System to any facility considering such a system for their project.”

Unique to any other offering in the industry, the Method is more than a product. It is the human centric design process and partnership that creates custom architectural products. An MSC design team works with the customer to design the ideal headwall system. The design is focused around the goals of the specific project and the people involved.

Through Modular’s Method, MSC is approaching healthcare design through creativity, curiosity and collaboration.