Seating refers to a wide variety of chair styles that outfit any type of venue, including schools to movie theaters to places of worship. For example, auditorium seating alone is adequate for cinemas, performing arts theaters, education facilities, planetariums, and casino venues. It is searching for the best quality, design, and value that is a challenge when it comes to purchasing seating.
Seating Structure
Seating structure counts as the construction of the chair frame, between the back and seat. The seats of most chairs are usually 18 inches off the floor while the backs of most chairs are 36 inches high. Chair frames can be found in steel or wood, or both. Seating with strong frames can be stacked without sustaining structural damage and as for material, wood frames are strong but heavier than steel.
If you are considering purchasing seating that has padding, polyurethane foam is commonly used to pad chair seats and backs. Padding is measured by density and softness and will compress over time. However, if you feel the wood in a new chair soon after buying it, the quality of foam may be less than ideal.
When you shop for padded seating, look for commercial-grade foam that has no filler, additives, or scrap. Check the density, which will tell you the volume of foam versus air space in the material. Ideally, you want a foam in your seating that has the ability to withstand repeated pressure from sitting while providing long-lasting comfort.
Seating Comfort
There are a variety of factors that influence the comfort level of chairs. These elements include the chair width, chair size, and chair pitch. It is only in the more recent years that there has been a concern about chairs being designed more for ergonomics than economics. Today, if you are not careful about your seating purchase, you may hear complaints about comfort versus the splendor of seating in your venue.
The chair width is a key ingredient in determining a chairs comfort. One can increase comfort by purchasing chairs with 20-inch or 21-inch frames instead of 18-inch frames. A larger chair seat will be wide enough to accommodate an average persons hips and thighs.
Chair size is another important element in chair comfort. Architects who design new meeting space will usually specify the chair width based on the maximum number of chairs allowed in a room. You should be able to obtain this number from local safety authorities. For those who use chairs for two purposes, such as both dining and worship, might want to consider buying smaller chairs.
Finally, chair pitch is an important ergonomic feature of chairs as well. In order to meet the needs of different groups of people, chair manufacturers offer various pitch angles on their chair backs. For example, choir and orchestra members need a higher than the average seating pitch of 87 degrees. A pitch of 100 degrees allows people to lean back in a chair without reclining and is a more comfortable position for sitting through a long program.