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Passage Desking System

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Designers

Lynda Chesser and Bill Schacht Lynda Chesser and Bill Schacht
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Case Studies

Hanna Andersson, Portland, Oregon
Manufacturing: Offices

Environment

70% recyclable
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LEED Credit Summaries

Awards

  • Best of NeoCon, Gold Award in "Furniture Systems" for the Passage freestanding desk system
    1998

What's In It For You

  • Product Story

    Offices throughout history have revolved around where the work gets done. First the desk, then the support components that keep supplies at hand, light on the surface, digital information coming in. Passage is called a "desking system" because this completely freestanding system uses modular desks as the building blocks for the workspace structure.

    Systems capabilities built into elegant freestanding furniture. Blending the advantages of both, Passage is a beautiful, high-tech solution for open spaces and enclosed offices, for individual and team settings.

  • The Capabilities of Systems

    Passage works like systems furniture. It supports technology with power and cable management, and it supports people with the ergonomic features. Passage workstations are composed of pre-assembled, freestanding modular units that are easy to specify, order, and install.

    Technology support. Raceways in the desk modules manage energy and cables and are easy to manage from front or back. Back panels, available in three heights, can be removed easily to access utility raceways from the aisle side. Accommodates heavy computer use and handles multiple specialized circuits for sensitive equipment.

  • Comprehensive storage. Flipper door units and shelves make the best use of vertical space. Easy-open, soft-closing doors are available in veneer, fabric, and painted metal. A tool rail attaches to the work surface so that people can personalize the space and control clutter. Meridian® filing and storage solutions store files, binders, coats--whatever you need at hand.

    Space division. Stackable and full-height screens create the right level of privacy and enclosure; they can be changed without disrupting neighboring workstations. Full-height, arc, and rectangular fabric screens are all tackable on both sides.

    Versatile work surfaces. Available in laminate and veneer in many shapes and sizes with height adjustability.

  • The Flexibility of Freestanding

    While Passage workstations are fully modular, they are as flexible as freestanding furniture because they don't rely on panels, walls, or other workstations for support. Reconfiguring a workstation doesn't disrupt people working nearby.

    Modular components: Desk modules come fully assembled, ready for individual or team use; modules plan without dimensional gain.

    Mobile tables: Adjustable height oval, concave, and D-shaped tables.

  • High-Tech Support

    Passage is tuned in to the high-tech needs of today's workplace. Large-capacity data and dependable power delivery is under the work surface and at work surface height, for ease and convenience. Lay-in cabling reduces extra workload and prevents possible damage due to cable threading.

    Large cable capacity: The primary cable channel is a continuous, grounded metal barrier that holds up to 123 Category 5e 4-pair UTP cables at a 60 percent fill rate; 96 Category 6 at 60 percent.

    Dependable power: The 4-circuit, 8-wire system supports heavy computer use and handles multiple specialized circuits.

  • Hard-Working Elegance

    Passage makes a stylish statement. An extensive color palette lets you create virtually any look you want. And the system lets you eliminate hard edges in favor of a graceful curvilinear design. A number of curved work surface shapes with rounded edges are available and can be complemented by curving arc screens.

  • Earth-Friendly

    Passage components are made of 40% recycled materials and are 70% recyclable at the end of their useful life.

Design Story

  • Interior designer Lynda Chesser and industrial designer Bill Schacht have worked on some unique projects - Bill, the interior of a privately owned 727 aircraft, and Lynda, a Paris club in which everything from the coffee cups to the millwork was designed and produced just for that project.

  • But they love designing for mass manufacture. "We get to solve complex problems in order to make something manufacturable, and we get to solve complex problems for the people who will use the furniture," says Bill.

    Designing a product to be manufactured and simultaneously improve the function and the aesthetic means they work somewhere between the world of wants and the world of needs. "The designer balances these worlds," says Lynda. "It's the perfect blending of pragmatism and creativity."

  • Chesser and Schacht designed the award-winning Passage system to provide flexible, attractive work environments for private and open-plan offices with exceptional storage and easy reconfiguration - superior function with a great look at an affordable price. It is completely freestanding and delivered partially assembled. Passage copes with the realities of today's business world - built to handle reconfiguration, reorganization, and reengineering with ease.

    The Passage system includes a broad range of storage options, more than any freestanding furniture system. With Meridian storage products and an array of desktop accessories, Passage furniture is designed to put work in its place, and you in control.

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