Ambiance and the Chair

For those that know me, will know I’ve got a secret love of chairs. (roll your eyes and laugh all you like. I can take it. ) During my first two years of my degree it was all about the chairs. I was designing them, writing about them and reading about them. The science behind a structure that held a weight and then the design that has been applied to make the practicalities exciting is something rather fascinating. Towards the end of my degree my work took less of a seated approach and more towards other design, but the consideration of the body was still there.

Given my recent thoughts of spatial design, I’ve began to realise how important seating can be when in context. Previously I have only really considered seating as an isolated object of design but when considering the space in which it stands opens up an entire can of new worms. The arrangement of chairs can create an intimate or inviting space, the type of chair can indicate the formality of a situation or in some cases the informality.

When it comes to the events, I’ve never really stopped to consider the fact the guests can spend the majority of their evening in a chair. In terms of time, it can be a place where someone would spend a considerable amount of their time, yet some times the seating is not necessarily considered beyond colour.

The layout of seating in an event is important too. I found myself organising an event in a long rectangular room, which posed difficulty when locating the dance floor where ultimately speeches would take place and a band was to peform. As it transpired the only layout that was truly realistic was having 300 people either side and the stage in the centre. As a result other factors then had to be introduced to recreate the involvement and intimate feeling that would have come naturally in a room with more centralised the seating.

From this I can definitely conclude, that (I hope) there will be a lot more ‘chair chat’ in my future than I initally realised – in a way the seating could make or break the ambiance of an event. The science of seating is a complete subject on its own - when your next at an event, consider how the seating is playing a part in your experience.

Ps: For those that read this far – Thanks. One day, when I have more than the space of a blog post I’ll try and explain my love of seating.