PLANAR

The Planar auditorium chair combines functional design with subtle elegance. Its thin frame allows for greater comfort and higher capacity without sacrificing space. Available with upholstered seats and backs, customizable veneer or powder-coated panels, and a lifetime warranty.

Summary:

The Planar offers a functional and subtle elegance with simple but pleasing lines. A thin common frame allows for greater seat size and increased comfort. A slim chair profile permits the architect to increase capacity without sacrificing comfort or proper egress space. The Planar is available with upholstered inner seats and backs with outer veneer, laminate, or powder coated panels. A wide variety of back shapes are available to complement any type of interior design.

The following model is available:

Planar A1: Equipped with inner upholstered seat and back cushions, as well as outer wood veneer panels (with finished plywood edges) for acoustical quality and refined appearance. Customized detailing on the backrest upholstery of the outer wood panels is optional.

Features:

• Gravity seat mechanism insures that the seat will always quietly return to a consistent vertical position.
• Hardwood armrests are available in a variety of species and finishes.
• Durable powder-coat finish is standard on all steel components.
• Flush mounted floor attachment hardware is standard.
• A variety of back shapes make this a uniquely versatile chair.
• Veneer, laminate, and powder-coated finishes are available on the outer seat and back panels.
• Standard spacing is 19″, 20″, 21″, and 22″ c.c. of frames (19″ not available with tablet arm).
• Lifetime Warranty is standard on the Planar.

Advantages:

Gravity Tip-Up Seat

The Planar seat tip-up action is attained by the use of a gravity counterweight mechanism. The advantages of a gravity mechanism over a spring or cylinder mechanism are as follows:

Consistent and automatic return to the upright position. Spring mechanisms can have inconsistent tip-up action due to the variation of the strength or fatigue of the steel springs. This affects the aesthetics of the room and may affect compliance with egress codes since the seats may not return to a consistent upright position.

Silent action. Spring mechanisms are likely to develop squeaks and normally produce several loud hits before coming to a stop.

Seat tip-up will never fail. Because the Planar mechanism relies on gravity, it will never fail to return the seat to its upright position. In contrast, as a spring mechanism fatigues, the seat tip-up action will get slower. Eventually, the spring mechanism may fail to return the seat to the upright position, producing a possible violation of egress codes.

Seat Construction

The Planar seat construction is patterned after office chairs for long-term comfort and durability. Flexible polyurethane foam is glued directly to the structure of the seat. The advantages of this type of construction are as follows:

Silence, durability, comfort. Seats constructed with serpentine springs often fatigue, sag and fail. This creates an uncomfortable and noisy seat, which may require replacement. TSI’s flexible polyurethane foam construction offers significant user comfort over long seating periods. Additionally, the absence of steel springs insures completely silent compression during use.

Upholstered options. Unlike metal seat pans with serpentine springs, Planar’s all-wood construction allows for custom upholstery detailing. The fully-upholstered seat has a zippered slip-on fabric cover for easier on-site replacement.

TSI Chair Frames

The frames are welded assemblies of heavy gauge and solid steel components. The advantages of this type of construction are listed below:

The Planar frames are welded assemblies of heavy gauge and solid steel components. The Planar’s welded steel assembly allows for simple and cost efficient design modifications for conformance to unique building conditions. Unlike high-volume castings, welded construction facilitates small production run modifications.

Cost of Ownership

Due to the obvious product advantages of Planar seating as mentioned above, and the superior service and warranty levels offered by TSI, purchasing Planar seating is a better long-term value. The initial savings associated with the purchase of a less expensive chair is likely to be lost through ongoing maintenance and replacement during the lifetime of the product.

Available Models:

Planar A1

Equipped with inner upholstered seat and back cushions, as well as outer wood veneer panels (with finished plywood edges) for acoustical quality and refined appearance. Customized detailing on the backrest upholstery of the outer wood panels is optional.

Planar C1

With a fully upholstered seat and back.

Options:

• California Technical Bulletin 133 Fire Code Compliance (when required by local codes)
• Back Shapes – A variety of standard back shapes are available to complement any type of interior design. Click here to see all available shapes.
• Aisle Lights – Low-voltage (24v) aisle lights discreetly illuminate dark aisles and steps, enhancing safety and visual appeal. Aisle lights can be concealed in the underside of the arm cap, or installed in the end panel. Wiring is routed through the frame to provide a clean installation.End Panels – Stained to match the armrests, veneer end panels can enhance the visual appeal of the room. Due to the simplicity of the Planar leg design, customized end panel profiles and options are easily accommodated.
• Seat & Row Identification and Donor Tags – Seat & row identification plates and donor tags are available in a variety of shapes and finishes. Identification plates are recessed into the wood seat and armrest to achieve a flush, clean appearance, and in order to resist tampering.
• Tablet Arm – The tablet arm folds between the seat and armrest and provides a work area for the occupant. Tablet arms are available as either left or right-handed.
• Removable Chairs – Available as one, two, or three chairs, these units include a steel sled-base and can conform to the row radii so as to provide harmony with the design of the room, while maintaining the utmost in flexibility. Removable chairs are available with a standard base that allows them to be bolted to the floor quickly and easily, or an extended base that allows them to be completely freestanding without the need for physical attachment to the floor.Solid Wood Edges – Providing a higher level of warmth, solid wood edges hide the appearance of the plywood layers than can be seen on the edges of the outer wood seat and back panels. (Not available on Traditional, R2, and Taper shapes.)
• Transfer Arms – Designed to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, these unique frames allow easy and clear access to the seat. Installations without an end panel feature a hinged lift-up armrest while installations with end panels feature removable end panels.
• Riser Mount Frames – As an option to the traditional floor mounting of chair frames, riser mount frames are available. This gives architects and designers another mounting option, which allows for easier cleaning of the floors.
• Oversize Chair Widths – Chair widths of 23″ and 24″ c.c. are available to provide occupants with a higher level of comfort and to satisfy layout requirements
• Bookracks – Available to meet the specific requirements for book storage, TSI provides project specific solutions.

Lifetime Warranty

Theatre Solutions, Inc. (TSI) warrants its’ products against failures and manufacturing defects for the life of the product. This warranty applies only to the original purchaser and is non-transferable. TSI will provide parts and labor to replace defective parts for the first two years after installation. Thereafter, TSI will provide replacement parts for the life of the product. This warranty does not cover damage from abuse, misuse, neglect or act of God. Damage caused by modifications to the product by anyone other than an authorized TSI technician will void this warranty. This warranty does not apply to fabrics or products not installed by authorized TSI technicians.

Installation

Use the Planar Floor Mounting Details drawing as reference for the following instructions.

1. Use approved floor plan to establish hole locations for the foot plates. Note that the chair radius line coincides with the front hole on the foot plate. Accurate center-to-center width spacing is critical to a proper installation. Tolerance on the chair width dimension is plus or minus 1/8″. It is critical not to exceed this tolerance on width spacing.
2. When mounting chairs over carpet, punch two 5/8″ diameter holes in carpet to match holes in the chair base plate. Bolt leg frames to the floor as per the appropriate anchoring method. Use 1/4″ flat head machine bolts or #14 wood screws and countersink lock washers. Hand-tighten bolts to allow for some slight movement in the leg frame.
3. Use the Planar Exploded Assembly drawing as reference for the following instructions and attach back as follows: 1) Place inner upholstered back in front of the back attachment wing brackets, aligning threaded inserts in the back with slots in the wing brackets. Insert (4) 1/4-20 x 5/8″ Allen-drive low-profile machine screws through the slots in the wing brackets and tighten while insuring that the back is centered between the leg frames. 2) Place the outer back panel behind and slightly above the inner panel and slide downwards to engage the flush-mount brackets. Use pinch clamps to draw the bottom of the panels together. Secure the panels by installing (2) 1/4-20 x 1-1/8″ Allen-drive low-profile machine screws through the predrilled holes in the bottom of the inner panel and into threaded inserts in the outer back panel.
4. Orient the seat to the approximate occupied position and lower onto seat hinges (C). Install four 1/4-20 x 5/8″ SEMS machine screws through slots in seat brackets and fasten to hinges. Insure seat is centered between legs prior to final tightening.
5. Flip seat up and down several times to insure that it pivots and returns to upright position freely. Adjustments can be made to attachment bolts in either the seats or backs.
6. Attach armrest by placing the routed area on the underside of the armrest over the mounting plate at the top of the leg frame. Secure using (4) #8 x 5/8″ pan head sheet metal screws.
7. Tighten all floor attachments securely.