There is no need to point out that Quadro means square, but it might help to know that in other languages, the word also refers to a picture frame or painting. Both of these meanings make great sense given the functionality and premise of the Quadro modular architectural interior system by North Carolina-based manufacturer IoA Healthcare. Designed for “planning, designing, organizing and building healthcare spaces,” the Quadro system is reconfigurable, which gives medical environments the flexibility they need.

Quadro Modular Architectural Interior System. Manufactured by IoA Healthcare.

Modular & Reconfigurable Storage Wall

IoA invested in the healthcare market long before it became common for furniture companies to do so. In 1988, one of the Delmestri clan (the company is family owned) graduated from Pratt Institute and decided to apply his design smarts to an area that interested him—healthcare. Since then, IoA has done its fair share of R&D into this field, and they are now one of the most accomplished furniture companies to specifically cater to this market.

The Quadro architectural system uses a welded metal frame called the e-frame that’s fixed to the wall and a collection of e-files, e-cabinets, and accessories that get attached to the metal skeleton. Anything from a white board to a tackboard tile can fill the square-shaped slots, as well as objects meant to hold weight, such as a television/LCD monitor mount and drawers. I like to imagine clever patients deciphering the Quadro system and switching around the different tiles, but a more likely scenario is that hospitals themselves will shuffle and add tiles as needed.

About the Manufacturer: IoA Healthcare, a family-owned company, began as a modern furniture manufacturer in Italy in 1933. In 1978, the Delmestri clan moved the operation to Thomasville, NC. For some time, IoA issued furniture designed by Eileen Gray under license from her estate. In 1988, Fabio Delmestri, a graduate of the Pratt Institute, sought to take the company in a new direction “and began researching an area of design that had interested him: healthcare.” After an initial period of research and development, IoA has emerged as a leader in the market: “Each and every product that IoA has ever developed is a solution to real and pressing needs in healthcare, and because of it has immediate acceptance.”