IS CURVED RETRACTABLE SEATING POSSIBLE?
Designers of theatres and lecture halls have long known the attraction of curves. Curved auditoria, with their direct viewing angles and shorter perceived distances, are great for sightlines. They can also break down barriers between the stage and the audience, improving atmosphere, interaction, and acoustics.
But curves have traditionally been tricky if your seating is retractable. The complex telescoping understructure beneath retractable platforms is very difficult to engineer into a curve.
Nevertheless, with our pragmatic attitude to seating design, Audience Systems now have three designs for those who like their seating to hug the stage – faceted, trapezoid and curved.
Curved
Curved retractable platforms may be complex, but they are possible, and we have a few tricks to make sure that the understructure is able to nest and the structure is therefore functional and reliable.
Above the platform, our gorgeous E-Form seats are specially designed to sit happily in curves, with each housed on its own fold-down mechanism.
Trapezoid
Often, sightlines, seating angles and atmosphere only really become a noticeable issue towards the edges of long rows of seating. In this case, it can be just as effective to have a “trapezoid” retractable seating unit, with two angled wings.
These systems are operationally more straightforward than multiple tapered units. The retractable structure extends and retracts as one, at the press of a button just as a straightforward rectangular structure would.
Tapered
This is a design Audience Systems have long used, particularly in arena bowls.
The curve is simply divided into small wedge-shaped retractable units. This has most of the advantages of a true curve, without the complexity.
So What Now?
To design your curved auditorium, just get in touch. Audience Systems can visit your site to provide expert advice and a custom layout perfect for your venue and your audience. Contact us now to take your next step!
