HIGH POINT, North Carolina, October 6, 2026 — Carolina, an OFS company and Presenting Sponsor of Healthcare Design Conference + Expo 2026, will unveil a 10-zone immersive experience in New Orleans designed to show how thoughtful decisions across different care settings can shape the healthcare experience. The space will feature the newly expanded Offshore collection, the debut of the Solace healthcare textile, and explorations of acoustic privacy, flexibility, and materiality.
Through immersive interaction and carefully considered materials and details, Carolina will examine how individual design decisions can work together to support the people, relationships, and experiences that define healthcare. Guided by Carolina’s philosophy, design is the quietest form of care™, the experience reflects the belief that every detail has the potential to help people feel seen, supported, and connected. Together, the 10 zones offer a closer look at how these quieter decisions can influence the way healthcare environments are experienced.
"As healthcare continues to evolve, we have a responsibility to keep asking how the environments we create can better support the people experiencing care,” said Stan Gray, Vice President of Healthcare at OFS/Carolina. “HCD gives our industry a place to exchange perspectives, challenge familiar approaches, and learn from one another. For Carolina, it is an opportunity to move healthcare design forward and explore what innovative and thoughtful healthcare design can make possible."
Healthcare designers and leaders will see how individual design choices can have a larger collective impact along the care journey. Highlights across 10 distinct zones include a dedicated Offshore gallery, an interactive In The Fold experience, and a materials and acoustic solutions center where attendees can explore textiles, finishes, color, privacy, and sound. Additional settings will look at hospitality-inspired waiting, lounge, storage, exam, patient, and treatment needs, creating a connected view of the healthcare experience.
New introductions and ideas throughout the space include:
- Offshore, designed with Achella Design, returns to HCD as a more comprehensive collection creating greater continuity from one care setting to the next.
- Solace will make its HCD debut as a new healthcare textile that attendees can experience firsthand in the dedicated materials center, alongside a broader exploration of color, finish, and material.
- Bokeh, designed by Studio Webb in collaboration with NBBJ Design, blurs the lines between healthcare and hospitality, balancing a refined aesthetic with the performance needs of lounge, waiting, clinical, and wellness settings.
- In The Fold brings more people into the fold with flexible guest seating that can be added, moved, folded, and stored to support an inclusive experience as needs shift.
- ROOM x Carolina Phone Booth creates privacy within active healthcare environments, offering a dedicated place for confidential conversations, virtual appointments, focused work, or simply a quieter moment.
- Sound Decisions: Why Acoustic Privacy Matters in Healthcare Environments, reveals insights from Carolina and ROOM exploring the role of noise and privacy in communication, trust, and well-being in healthcare spaces.
"We designed the space to invite people to look closer at how each choice affects the experience around it,” said Lauren Morgan, Director of Marketing at Carolina. “A material, a place for privacy, a flexible seat, or the way a setting is planned may seem like an individual decision, but together those choices shape how people experience care."
At HCD 2026, Carolina will connect design choices to the larger environments and experiences they help shape. Together, the introductions, research, and settings invite the healthcare design community to consider how quieter choices can contribute to spaces that feel more responsive, adaptable, and human.
Healthcare Design Conference + Expo takes place October 17–20, 2026, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. Carolina can be found in space 1819 throughout the HCD Expo.
About Carolina
For more than 80 years, Carolina, an OFS company based in High Point, North Carolina, has designed and manufactured furniture for healthcare environments worldwide. Guided by the philosophy that design is the quietest form of care™, Carolina creates thoughtful solutions that support patients, families, guests, and caregivers across the continuum of care. Through products, research, education, and healthcare expertise, Carolina helps create environments that support comfort, function, well-being, and the evolving needs of care.
Media Contact
Brooke Lueken
Digital Marketing and Communications Strategist
blueken@ofs.com
