With design experience in the relevant industry and, even more important, having a proven reputation for working miracles with limited budgets, they - the spokesmen for VOA - think it only proper that Apollo Travel Services, developers of special reservations/ticketing software, should have come to the group when a new location was sought. The venue of choice covers 65,000 sq. ft. on two and a half floors of a high-rise in Rolling Meadows near Chicago. Subbing for principal-in-charge Nicholas Luzietti in giving the project report were designer Blair Brown and architect Tom Erdelac.

Logo insignia above desk edge joinery.

At the client's request, they relate, previously owned office furniture was to be re-used and work station standards were to be maintained. The layout was devised so as to direct visiting travel agents to one side, there to become acquainted with computerized service options via talks, training and demo sessions; opposite are private offices and open work centers. Acting as subliminal traffic pointer and pièce de résistance is the centeral reception desk, part

Corridor between work areas.

of a configuration connecting with curved walkways. It makes a strong first impression, illustrating the designers' resolve to put their money where the image is. Economy measures, balancing the more extravagant show up front, are applied to behind-the-scenes work sectors. The centerpiece consists of canted and faced pearwood columns that encircle the also-faceted (see edge close-up) desk. At mid-point of a 16-ft.-diameter overhang is a back-lit while gypboard form emulates the nucleus of a comet.

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