Cadenza & Rota fixed seating from Dauphin are crowd-pleasers at SUNY Downstate Medical Center

Diana Mosher , an editor with The McMorrow Reports, connected with Onyekachi (Kachi) Akoma , Project Manager, Design & Construction, Facilities Management & Development at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. A client of Dauphin, they discussed the medical center’s decision to specify Cadenza fixed seating in the auditorium and large lecture halls and Rota in two smaller lecture halls.

Diana Mosher  Editor McMorrow Reports

Onyekachi (Kachi) Akoma Project Manager SUNY Downstate Medical Center

Tell us about your facility and user population.

Onyekachi : The Downstate campus in Brooklyn is part of The State University of New York system. The facility is an academic medical center whose primary program is the medical school. We also have health-related programs, public health, and allied medical fields like physical education, physician assistance, and a college of nursing. The campus buildings we oversee include a hospital. We also have specialty users like community groups and programs for adolescents who want to pursue a career in healthcare. Recently, we hosted the inauguration of a New York state senator.

Has the Cadenza by Dauphin upgrade in the auditorium changed how your users interact with that space?

Onyekachi: Since we renovated the auditorium with the Cadenza seats, its use has grown.

Cadenza is available in a wide range of finishes and offers row/aisle number and donor nameplate systems, aisle lights and other  wayfinding options.

Was that because of the aesthetics of the product?

Soiled slipcover upholstery can easily be replaced by the on-site facilities team.

Onyekachi: Absolutely. We wanted a big bang for the buck—and we also wanted to show that the reign of the new president is something refreshing and these are all the fantastic changes because he's here. The auditorium was an initial strategic effort in that regard. I was about to go to Italy to figure out a way to go off the New York State (purchasing) contract because this set of chairs was an important investment. Our community is not used to getting top-shelf seating. This was our effort to show them that we wanted to give them the best. We found these chairs by Dauphin on the New York State contract. They’re extremely sculptural; we designed the room around these chairs.

Cadenza comes in a wide range of finishes and options. How did you approach your selections?

Available with optional writing tablets,  Cadenza can also be customized to display branding.

Onyekachi: T he auditorium is Downstate’s grand assembly space. For the Cadenza, we specified a midnight blue fabric that has a little bit of translucence as the light hits it, adding a rich look and it has a nice texture. For the arms, legs and back, we chose a wood veneer finish. That combination really makes it look like you're going to the theater, not a standard school auditorium. The seats have numbers and letters, so we can issue seat assignments. We also show our logo as an inlay in the arms at the end of the aisle seats. A cap on top of the armrest flips down for an LED light. When we dim the overhead lights that provides low lighting and shows our logo. It’s a nice detail.

Tell us more about the functionality you were seeking for the auditorium.

Onyekachi : We selected Cadenza because we needed a product that would not only hold up, but also be easy to maintain. With our previous chairs, we literally had to take them apart—with a lot of unscrewing—to refresh the upholstery. With Cadenza, it's actually very simple to take out the cushions and replace them. Its power solution is also critical. Students arrive with their mobile devices, and they're constantly looking for places to charge, so that was a great feature.

In your smaller lecture rooms, Rota’s fixed table with swing away seat system enabled a tiered installation. What other features were appealing to you?

Onyekachi : T he idea was to create a cool Star Trek-aesthetic for a futuristic-looking lecture hall. Rota accommodates people of various girths and sizes. With seating of this type, the number one thing people complain about is the ability to comfortably get in and out of the chair. You need to feel comfortable and be able to maneuver. I was really impressed at how well Rota accommodates people of different sizes—I can't emphasize that enough. It exceeds expectations.

Rota provides a wide range of options to meet flat, sloped and tiered installations for straight or curved applications.

What kind of user feedback have you received?

Onyekachi : We’re a graduate school, so we’re talking about people who've been in college for the past five or six years in all kinds of classrooms and lecture halls. The feedback I'm constantly getting is how comfortable these chairs are, especially in lecture halls where it’s typically a two-hour class. The ability to comfortably sit in one place for multiple hours is crucial.

Rota’s integration of power into the column results in smooth desktops. Has that also been popular?

Onyekachi : Absolutely. I think the way power is integrated into the legs of Rota is a very clever design that allows for clearance. Also, you want it to be high-tech, but you don't want it to look messy when people are plugged in.

Rota’s integration of power into the column results in smooth desktops and a more spacious, comfortable experience.

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your decision to specify Cadenza and Rota?

Onyekachi : We shopped around for products that met key requirements of ergonomics, flexibility of use in terms of our power requirements and aesthetics that would help push our vision for elevating and modernizing the space. Those were the basic criteria and why I was originally going after European designers. Dauphin is a German company, so its aesthetics reflect European style.

www.dauphin.com/fixedseating