How Adding A Vestibule Helps Your Facility
Blog
Panel Built's prefabricated buildings are generally used as self-contained, free-standing structures, used for guard stations, attendant booths, equipment enclosures, and a wide range of other applications. However, some may be surprised to know that we fabricate a variety of structures designed to be added to existing buildings, most notably our prefabricated, entry vestibules. A vestibule acts as a sort of buffer zone to the entrance of your facility, a sort of entrance to your entrance.
Panel Built's range of building systems provides us the flexibility to create vestibules of many different styles, sizes, and types. In many cases, Panel Built's entry vestibules are being added onto commercial buildings: hotels, office buildings, hospitals, etc. In most of these cases, the vestibule will be retroactively added on after these buildings have already been completed and fully operational. In these cases, the facility managers are generally looking for the vestibule to seamlessly blend into the building's existing aesthetic, and they are looking to have it installed quickly, with minimal disruption.
In these cases, Panel Built's welded steel frame vestibules offer a variety of architectural designs, and as the vestibule structure is fully fabricated in one of our modular construction facilities, the addition is quickly and easily installed at the project site. In other cases, our customers are looking for the fastest, most simple (and affordable) solution. For these projects, Panel Built can utilize a panelized vestibule structure which is delivered to the project site "knock-down" to be assembled after delivery. This type of vestibule makes use of our distinct wall panel system, allowing for a convenient and fast space solution.
These are the two types of vestibule systems that we offer, but it is more important to understand why certain facilities need vestibules and the different applications that they can serve...
Adding a Vestibule Can Help Shield Your Facility From Inclement Weather
With the Winter months coming up, keeping your facility a constant, comfortable temperature is an important, and sometimes difficult task for certain companies. If your facility sees constant traffic through one or more entryways, your building could be losing a lot of the warm air created through your facility's HVAC system. The longer the door is open the more money is being lost through increased power bills. Adding a vestibule to the front of the entrance is a great way to curb this energy usage and keep a more constant internal temperature in the facility. Not to mention the people at reception will appreciate not being blasted with frigid air with every new visitor.
However, a vestibule helps shield from weather of all types. If your facility's in a part of the country that regularly sees inclement weather (snowstorms, extreme temperatures, high winds, hail, etc.), the vestibule acts as a buffer zone between the outside elements and your professional interior environment. This buffer zone provides employees, guests, and patrons an area to rid themselves of dirt, rain, and snow to help keep the inside of your building immaculate. Additionally, the vestibule helps ensure none of that inclement weather makes its way inside the building when the door is open.
Adding a Vestibule Can Bolster your Facility's Security
In many cases, vestibules will act as a buffer zone not just for bad weather, but for security purposes too. One of the most popular reasons for facilities to install a prefabricated vestibule onto their existing building is to add a second line of defense. These structures act as a 'mantrap' for the facility's entrance, ensuring only authorized personnel are able to enter.
These security vestibules can function in a variety of ways to secure the entrance. In certain high-security areas, the first set of doors can be opened, but lock when closed. Then, the second set of doors include an access control mechanism, requiring a keyfob, access code, or fingerprint scan to gain entry. If the person is trying to illegitimately gain entry to the facility, they will be stuck in the vestibule (or mantrap), forced to wait for security personnel to escort them off the property. Depending on the level of security that the area requires, these additions can include ballistic-rated, bullet-resistant, and impact-resistant glass to prevent brute force attacks.
Adding a Vestibule Can Create a Health Screening Area for Your Building
With the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses have begun temperature screenings before allowing access to their facilities. This will ideally be done outside of the facility's entrance before a potentially infected individual was inside. However, with the winter months quickly headed our way, having multiple attendants standing still outside all day may not be comfortable or safe in poor conditions. For these cases, Panel Built's prefabricated vestibules can act as an employee or guest screening area at the entrance of buildings.
This way, guests and screeners can comfortably and safely conduct temperature screenings at the entrance of the facility. Inside the vestibule, screeners can use infrared thermometers to check the temperatures of all incoming patients.
Screening vestibules can either be a single, open room where the screening use PPE to protect themselves from possible infection, or the room can include interior partitions to place the screeners behind barriers (PPE would still be recommended) to provide them with an additional layer of protection.
These are just a few of the many possible benefits of Panel Built's prefabricated vestibules. If you have any questions or would like to get a quote on an entry vestibule of your own, give us a call at 800-636-3873, send us an email to info@panelbuilt.com, or let us know in our LiveChat feature in the bottom right of the page. We're more than happy to answer any questions or concerns that you may have. Panel Built's modular structures have been installed into all 50 United States as well as Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Morocco, Italy, Greenland, and more! Panel Built is uniquely able to adapt our structures to fit a wide range of building codes and requirements.