Teamwork Makes Renovation Successful:
Carpet Choice Helps Facility Bloom into CCRC
By Janet Herlihy
 The
design project that turned a neglected Philadelphia senior living center into an
award-winning model for the best in retirement facilities relied heavily on the
teamwork of a trio of professionals -- facility manager, interior designer and,
of all things, the flooring specialists. It also relied heavily on the choice of
flooring product as a linchpin in the design -- establishing the color base,
contributing a warm ambience, adding an appropriate decorative tone and
conveying the image of a welcome, hospitable environment.
The Fountains is an organization making a success of creating beautiful,
functional environments for seniors in a wide variety of settings. The latest is
Logan Square East in Philadelphia. It was a renovation completed in October,
2001 -- the eighteenth Fountains facility renovated nationally.
The increase in the senior population in America has made specialized housing
more important. Rather than move to suburban or country centers, many
city-loving retirees prefer to stay in urban neighborhoods where they have spent
their lives.
 The
25-story building originally had been built as a senior complex in 1984, but had
been long neglected by its previous owners before The Fountains purchased the
facility. The facility offers walking access to numerous historical and cultural
centers including: The Free Library, Rodin Museum, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine
Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Academy of Music and the Franklin Institute.
"Fountains took over a dilapidated, half-occupied building and spent
approximately $14 million to renovate it, turning it into a first-class
facility," says Jim Goebel, the company's assistant vice president of
construction and development.
The building is now a showplace as a modern, multi-faceted approach to senior
housing. It has been honored with a Gold Award by the National Council on Senior
Housing (sponsored by NAHB); the Renovation of Service Enriched Senior Housing
2002 Order of Excellence; and, Best Practices Winner, on behalf of Contemporary
Long Term Care and Hospitality Design Magazine.
The downtown Philadelphia Fountains location now has a mix of living options
to offer, including 121 skilled nursing beds, 292 independent living units (a
mix of one and two-bedroom apartments), 42 assisted living apartments and 12
Alzheimer/dementia units, according to Goebel.
 The
Bethlehem, Pa.,-based interior design firm, DesignPoint Inc., was hired to
devise and implement the renovation of the Logan Square East facility.
DesignPoint worked with Partridge Tackette, a Philadelphia architectural firm,
which handled the structural elements of the project. "We provided them
with all the interior design plans," said Les McCoy, president of
DesignPoint.
The Fountains' Goebel worked closely with DesignPoint in bringing the Logan
Square East building up to Fountains' standards. The DesignPoint team consisted
of McCoy, Pam Csensits, Beth Hlavac and Linda Gusick-Dunbar.
The planning process took eight months, according to McCoy, who noted,
"It was an evolutionary process though, as we were working with a
contractor from the onset. Design of latter stages was ongoing as work was being
done on earlier segments. We had major meetings once a month and then would make
presentations to Tucson (The Fountains management). DesignPoint did a lot of
coordination of the renovation and installation work and also provided all the
purchasing services. It was a huge task to get all the materials needed for the
project."
One of the first design elements to be specified was carpet for certain
public spaces, including hallways, dining rooms and common areas.
"The client wanted a high style, hospitality look," said McCoy.
"We used a lot of marble and carpet together as well as woodwork to create
a very metropolitan, sophisticated look."
Choosing a carpet source was easy. Goebel, who had worked in interior design
specializing in hospitality settings before joining The Fountains, has long been
familiar with Durkan Patterned Carpet, which became the unanimous choice.
"Durkan is the leader in patterned carpet," he said. "The
introduction of color and pattern to the floors gives large scale rooms life and
warmth." The Fountains, which has a national contract with Durkan, has used
its carpet in about half of its facilities.
McCoy also had prior experience with Durkan. "I always found that Durkan
has so many patterns that you can always find the one that works. It's always a
lot of fun because there are so many designs and patterns to use. The flooring
becomes one of the most important parts of the project as it sets the tone for
the whole plan."
Kane Wright, the Durkan patterned carpet representative for northern New
Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, has worked with McCoy and DesignPoint many
times. "Les is able to come up with esthetically pleasing plans, but is
also very detail oriented, which isn't all that common," said Wright.
"The plans from DesignPoint are precise and accurate, which makes it easy
for the client to get what they want and need. Les is also very good at
integrating different types of products both for the design look and to manage
costs effectively."
Wright, who has been working with Durkan carpet for close to 20 years,
explained that Durkan offers its customers the opportunity to choose patterns
from more than 65 collections and 3500 patterns built around a theme. Durkan
carefully creates the related patterns in large, mid-sized and small-scale
designs. It also offers design borders that can be used to enhance the basic
field patterns in six-inch to three-foot widths. Each collection also offers
area rug designs that can be created in a variety of sizes. Durkan's patterned
carpet is the industry leader based on its design excellence and flexibility --
more than 5000 stock patterns plus custom capabilities -- and performance,
according to Wright. He added that Durkan's patterned carpet base is an
extremely dense tufted nylon that uses a larger denser yarn in an eighth gauge
construction for the best in appearance retention.
From Concept to Creation
 DesignPoint's
Csensits worked on the colorways and patterns for the carpeting and coordinated
the design through Kane Wright's office.
"We did all the design on our computers using the Durkan Masterworks
program and over-nighted shipments back and forth to review strikeoffs,"
said McCoy.
DesignPoint developed a colorway -- a palette of 12 shades -- then chose from
that palette to color the styles it had selected. By using the same colorway for
all the styles in a particular project, the finished project has a consistency
of tone and costs are controlled, because the printing machinery doesn't have to
be changed to a different colorway. "We can achieve great economies of
scale as long as the project uses colors from a single colorway," noted
Wright.
About 4,300 square yards of Durkan patterned carpet was specified for the
public spaces -- hallways, dining rooms, lobby, auditorium -- in the assisted
living areas on four floors, according to McCoy. In patterned goods, about 10
styles from the Merci and Josephine collections were used.
While the patterns are part of Durkan's standard line, all the colors were
custom. "Each area has its own personality," McCoy noted. "We
matched a carpet pattern to each space.
In addition to the patterned styles, Advocate, a Durkan Commercial carpet
style, was chosen to work with a slate border for the floor of a café area.
Advocate is a nubby, sisal-look multi-color loop construction in nylon.
Once the patterns and initial color choices were made, the designer created a
set of floor plans. These were sent to the Durkan mill, where it was translated
into a detailed diagram with the carpet laid in precisely. Wright stressed,
"We show where every seam will be and every pattern. The plans go to the
designer for approval. It usually takes at least two rounds of plans and
revisions to come up with the final diagram."
Before that final diagram is created, Durkan will send a representative to
the site to re-measure the spaces and confirm all dimensions. "We can't
really be certain of the final measurements until the walls are up."
While the plan is being completed, the design firm and the Durkan mill are
working on samples and fine tuning the colors. "It can take many strikeoffs
to get all the colors in all the various patterns right," added Wright.
Durkan encourages its clients to be involved. "It's a great service to
be able to be hands on with the carpet," said DesignPoint's McCoy.
"Otherwise it can take such a long time of back and forth with instructions
and strikeoffs. With Durkan, you can expedite the entire process. There was some
give and take involved in developing the colors, because, while seeing the
designs and colors on the computer is close, you don't really know until you see
strikeoffs. That's why it's so important to have a company like Durkan that will
work with you."
 Once
the final colors had been approved, carpet production and installation soon
followed. All the work was done around the residents, who at first were somewhat
anxious, remembered McCoy. "They had made large, personal investments to
live in the building and, with the first owners in financial trouble, had become
very concerned about the future," he said. But, "The Fountains worked
with a house committee of residents who provided input.
There was give and take and Fountains made every effort to oblige the
residents."The carpet installation was done by Wargo Floors, based in
Conshohochen, Pa. Mike Wargo, company president, said that Wargo brought the
experience of numerous other Durkan patterned carpet installations to The
Fountains project. The job, a direct glue down installation, took place in
phases over a year's time. "It's gratifying to see a nice, clean
installation be completed that everybody's happy with," Wargo said.
Goebel stressed, "Now some parts of the building are at capacity and
others are 70 to 80 percent full."
The working relationship between The Fountains and DesignPoint was so
successful that DesignPoint is now working on another Fountains project in Palm
Desert, Calif. "We emphasize a team approach to getting the work done. And
when a team works well together, we try to keep it together," he concluded.
Former editor of Carpet & Rug Industry magazine, Janet G. Herlihy has
been reporting on the floor covering industry for more than 12 years. Herlihy
continues to observe and chronicle the carpet industry, including commercial
applications, from her home office in Mahwah, NJ. For more information, contact
her at (201) 848-1250 or e-mail: janetherlihy@aol.com.
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