Winco Windows Help Create Virus-Resistant Spaces in Healthcare Settings, Schools

Controlling viruses in health care facilities is now a top priority for architects and facility managers. Transira Prime Window Solutions, from Winco Window Co., resolves several common problems hospitals and clinics face, say company officials.

Transira Prime Window Solutions encases a high-performance vertical shade within an insulated window, eliminating the possibility that allergens and airborne pathogens cling to the shade’s fabric. The window system can be locally controlled and simultaneously tied into the overall building management system. This offers health care workers and patients the ability to control visibility, light, and solar heat entering a room at the touch of a button.

Winco, a St. Louis-based manufacturer of architectural aluminum windows, developed the Transira concept as a way to modernize and simplify daylighting. The Transira technology was adopted by school districts for security and has further application in the health care field for cleanliness and safety. “Wearing neckties used to be commonplace in hospitals, until that rarely laundered fabric was viewed as a potential source of contamination. Just as neckties have all but vanished from hospitals, it makes sense to shift the paradigm when it comes to shades and window coverings in health care,” says Gantt Miller, part of the product development team at Winco. 

“Draperies and shades can hold onto disease-spreading microbes. Both are difficult and costly to sterilize. This is a risk we can eliminate entirely from the equation. Cleaning glass is far easier and safer than cleaning the soft surfaces of fabrics,” says Miller. Transira neutralizes this source of contamination while simultaneously reducing operating costs, harnessing daylighting, and dramatically streamlining and sanitizing the user interface for a room's lighting and privacy. 

The need for virus-resistant patient-care spaces is significant. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates roughly 1.7 million hospital-associated infections, from all types of microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi combined, cause or contribute to almost 1 million deaths each year. That's more than the death toll from AIDS, breast cancer and car accidents combined.

When not being operated locally by a patient, guest or nurse, the Transira Prime Window Solutions can interface with a facility’s existing building management system to help conserve energy and save money by reducing or allowing heat transfer depending on the current cooling or heating load of the building.  “Basically, when the building needs heat, the window delivers. When the building needs to stay cool, the window blocks solar heat gain,” says Miller. 

The Transira system was first used by the Washoe County School District in Reno, Nevada, as a way to visually secure learning spaces in the event of an intruder on campus. “The feedback that we’ve gotten from teachers and school district personnel has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Miller. “Since adding healthy daylight is as simple as pressing a button next to the light switch, they’ve found that rather than relying on artificial lighting, classrooms and student activities are more frequently illuminated by a warm glow of natural light.” 

Building the shade into the window not only protects it from contamination but also from inadvertent damage from daily use. Shades, blinds, draperies and window coverings are one of the largest single maintenance expenditures for facility managers. By putting the shade within the window, it is protected from handling and while being controlled seamlessly with a wall keypad or BMS integration—convenient, efficient, and cost-effective.

Security is also improved because the shades can be quickly raised in case of a fire or lowered in case of an intruder. The windows are also engineered to prevent sound entering the building, adding to patient comfort. 

Winco partnered with Somfy, the world leader in the automatic control of openings and closures in buildings to ensure the Transira Windows offer state-of-the-art functionality. “We needed a partner with a proven track record in automatic control, and Somfy was instrumental in navigating the fine details that went into this product,” says Miller.  

A final benefit of having the shades built into the window is that the installation of Transira Prime Window Solutions cuts down on multiple trades, multiple vendors, project complexity and extended timelines. Only one vendor is needed to spec, design and install Transira Prime Window Solutions.