Prefabricated furniture

A prefabricated furniture system for interior building space of the type having a floor with an open plan, comprising:

• a framework extending over the floor of the building space, and including a plurality of posts, and a plurality of beams supported at a predetermined elevation to define an open, three-dimensional gridwork which spatially partitions the associated portion of the building space;
• utility conduits extending along said posts and said beams to provide access to utilities throughout said gridwork;
• and
• a plurality of rigid infill panels, each being constructed to permit easy, manual, bodily translation of the same by an adult user, and shaped for positioning between said beams;
• each of said infill panels having upper and lower panel portions equipped to removably retain the same in a selected position within said gridwork, wherein said upper panel portion is adapted to engage a lower surface of an adjacent one of said beams, said lower panel portion is adapted to engage an upper surface of an adjacent one of said beams, and at least one of said upper and lower panel portions includes a resiliently extensible retainer which biases outwardly to create tight engagement between said infill panels and the associated beams for securely, yet removably, retaining the same in place, whereby said infill panels can be quickly and easily installed by the user at various locations throughout said gridwork to create workstations with visual privacy and utility access, and can be rearranged by the user to accommodate different work requirements.

A method for partitioning interior building space of the type having a floor with an open plan, comprising:

• erecting a framework over the floor of the building space, by assembling a plurality of posts, and a plurality of beams, at least some of which are supported at a predetermined elevation above the floor to define an open, three-dimensional gridwork which spatially partitions the associated portion of the building space;
• providing utility conduits along the posts and the beams to provide access to utilities throughout the gridwork;
• and
• providing a plurality of rigid infill panels, each being constructed to permit easy, manual, bodily translation of the same by an adult user, and shaped for positioning between the beams and the floor of the building;
• each of the infill panels having upper and lower panel portions equipped to removably retain the same in a selected position within the gridwork, wherein the upper panel portion is adapted to engage a lower surface of an adjacent one of the beams, the lower panel portion is adapted to engage the floor, and at least one of the upper and lower panel portions includes a resiliently extensible retainer which biases outwardly to create tight engagement between the infill panels and the floor and associated beams;
• manually installing the infill panels between the floor and the beams in side-by-side juxtaposition by selectively compressing the retainer and then releasing the same once the infill panel is in place under the beam, thereby securely, yet removably, retaining the same in place, whereby the infill panels are quickly and easily installed by the user at various locations throughout the gridwork to create workstations with visual privacy and utility access, and can be rearranged by the user to accommodate different work requirements.