AmeriHealth Caritas was looking for a dramatic and iconic design for the atrium in their new headquarters that would be a welcoming space for employees and visitors.
M|R Walls designed with Corian® Solid Surface offered the inviting look that AmeriHealth wanted in the design of their centerpiece atrium wall, along with the durability and dependability that was needed in such a high-traffic area.
Plenty of design decisions went into the new five-story, 378,000-square-foot building in the Philadelphia suburb of Newtown Square, PA. This facility would soon become the headquarters for AmeriHealth Caritas, the nation’s largest managed healthcare company. Perhaps one of the most important of these decisions was that the entire project would center around the idea of interconnectivity, creating a welcoming space for employees and visitors alike.
The project presented a top-tier design challenge: the centerpiece atrium wall—spanning 1,650 square feet—needed a solution that was dramatic and iconic enough to command attention in the expansive space and would also capture and express AmeriHealth’s company values in a single, monolithic tableau.
The design team, which included interior designer Shawna Frash of Philadelphia-based Francis Cauffman Architects and designer Mario Romano of M|R Walls, took to heart that the design needed to speak to interconnectedness.
Using a proprietary process, M|R Walls creates 3D textured walls using Corian® Solid Surface. Seams are nearly invisible as they are hidden in the lines of the design, which means feature walls appear as one single image, at scale. M|R Walls specializes in technical and design considerations on a grand scale, while still providing aesthetic flexibility for clients and designers to communicate their ideas and desires. In this case, interconnectivity was the guiding principle that informed their design decisions throughout the process—from macro concept down to the smallest details.
“This led us to the idea that ripples from the smallest raindrops can spread out to touch everything around them,” said M|R Walls’ founder Romano. “And we loved the design opportunity to examine a tiny microcosm like that on the largest possible canvas. The client loved the idea too and asked us to run with it.”
The team collaboratively iterated the concept through the M|R Walls process, including rendering and 3D modeling to bring the project to life.
In its final form, ripples intersect and interact with each other, and roll out to touch every edge and corner of the design and beyond. They also connect the many floors of the building into one complete story as the stairs ascend the full height of the atrium.
The inviting texture, purposely within reach of the floating staircase, asks to be touched—a literal “touchstone” as a common experience for everyone passing through the space.
In order to obtain this important tactile element, M|R Walls are carved into Corian® Solid Surface. Signaling permanence and dependability, this pristine white surface is as easy to maintain as it is on the eyes.
Durability was especially important for this project—as the design needed to stand up to heavy use in the bustling, high-traffic atrium. Corian® Solid Surface is an integral part of the design as it’s non-porous and easy to clean, since there’s no place for dirt or bacteria to hide. M|R Walls carved on Corian® Solid Surface offers a new design aesthetic for a material that has been trusted in hygiene-sensitive environments for decades.
AmeriHealth Caritas
The Ellis Preserve
Newtown Square, PA 19073
Developer: Equus Capital Partners Ltd.
Mario Romano is a designer specializing in digital fabrication and construction. His M|R Walls are an exclusive line of multidimensional panels carved from Corian® Solid Surface, used in a variety of applications like feature walls, corporate branding, exterior facades, water features, atriums, elevators, reception desks and many others. For more information visit https://mrwalls.marioromano.com/
Corian® Design, a division of DuPont Water & Protection, is a global organization which creates, manufactures and markets advanced materials, products and solutions for interior design and architecture, originating from a foundation of world-class technologies and expertise. Marketed under the Corian® brand and the Make your Space™ tagline, its materials, products and solutions meet the most demanding requirements in terms of beauty, functionality and durability. The Corian® Design global portfolio is continuously evolving and it currently includes Corian® Solid Surface, Corian® Quartz and Corian® Endura™. To learn more about Corian® Design, visit www.corian.com
For further information contact:
Hailey Schmidt
+1 (989) 890-2204
Hailey.schmidt@dupont.com
