When budgets are tight, improving seating qualities should not mean significantly increasing seat costs.

Albany Arena Seating (36k) ... the
Pacific's solution to stadium seating.

n 1996 John Lovett of Viscount, Allan Brown of Metallion and Noel Carty of Venue Revenue Services Pty, got together to discuss an idea that the consortium had to enter the Stadium Seat market. The Consortium had identified that there were plans for a number of new stadia in Australia and New Zealand and the existing products left a lot to be desired in terms of acceptable ergonomic design.

In considering their project, they recognised that it would be no easy task to compete in this market on an international basis. The existing world market was characterised by a small number of well-established international players with substantial records of accomplishment and the resources to protect their own patch.

They knew also that 'new product, new market' was a risky growth strategy and that the local market demand where the product had to firstly establish a presence, was lumpy at best. However, Aussies and Kiwis being an innovative lot, they went ahead.

What was clearly apparent to the team was the need for a fundamental approach to the design rather than any incremental development. A 'me too' product would limit their potential to their home market.

The Albany Arena
Seat in-situ (60k)

The Brief

The consortium has a process of product design that places high weighting on writing the brief (attached). It is rare for companies to undertake a design project in a field in which they do not have current experience, so it was necessary for them to do the research well. A variety of techniques was required.

As one starting point they selected a cross section of the worlds better offerings in stadium seating for analysis. They used an analytical process called 'attribute listing' to identify the qualities that each of these seats offered. In essence, this records the intent of each aspect of the seat.

Using the creative technique 'Imagineering' they wrote an ideal attribute specification for the stadium seat. Each of the worlds leading products was assessed against their ideal list, and a judgement made on whether they could be bettered. They then ranked those areas that 'could be bettered' from the perspective of the stadium owner, user, and architect to give a critical focus to the design.

This comprehensive data provided a matrix for evaluation of their own ideas. There are a number of key qualities that contribute to the success of the new design:

COMFORT: Stadia events can involve long periods of sitting - cricket and tennis can be all day events, and therefore the seats must be comfortable. They also recognised that stadia events are competing for people's discretion leisure time and dollars. It has become a well-recognised and researched factor that Stadia Management cannot afford to loose patronage through deficiencies in the personal comfort of their patrons.

SAFETY: The seats must not only be strong and abuse resistant but free of finger traps as well. Tip-up seats moving parts have the potential to produce dangerous nip points. These must be avoided.

DIMENSIONAL: Increasingly demanding access and egress codes require seating to have minimal dimensions when tipped up.

AESTHETICS: Stadia are now architectural statements of our time rather than the functionally driven cost constrained grandstands of yesteryear. The seating aesthetic has to be harmonious with architectural intent and have the attention to detailing demanded of quality environments.

VALUE: While stadia have increasing demands of the seating supplier, they are generally funded on the various grants and the prospect of future income. Invariably budgets are tight and the improved seating qualities demanded should not significantly increase the seat cost.

THE DESIGN PROCESS: The Consortium, under the guidance of Metallion, engaged a team of industrial designers and plastics engineers to produce the seats and Reese Viscount contributed the plastic technology and tool funding. By this means they were able to develop a strategic alliance that captured the design skills and entrepreneurial flair of Metallion with the capital resources and technology of Reese Viscount (a member of the Pacifica Group) and Venue Revenue Services Pty with the international marketing knowledge and supporting infrastructure to penetrate the stadia market.

Alternative configuration
(52k) for the Albany Seat.

Meeting Goals...

COMFORT: The earlier research into seating comfort had identified some critical dimensional criteria that had to be met. This work had come from a series of interviews of blindfolded people sitting on a range of chairs and describing their sensations. This allowed perceived comfort to be ranked. Hard measurements were taken of the seats and the critical dimensions closely studied. This knowledge prescribed that very refined forms are necessary to avoid under thigh pressure and provide good lumbar and thoracic support in both the active and relaxed postures that people adopt.

One of the most interesting aspects of the research was that the perception of back comfort comes from light support around the kidney area. This requires an enveloping wrap of the back form at that position of the back. Conversely, any tight fit of the back also constrains the body in that position and limits the number of postures that can be adopted.

The innovative solution was to combine the good fit of the back with an ability of the back to flex rotationally. This allows the back support to be retained as people move in their seats and adopt a wide range of postures. This is particularly important in events where the action moves from one end of the field to the other, (most sports and tennis in particular).

Summer sports provide another interesting challenge. Ventilation! Polypropylene has excellent insulation properties. This means that those parts of the body in constant contact with the seat cannot release their heat to the atmosphere. What is required is airflow. The solution, a series of ventilation holes and grooves in the seat.

In the tight confines of the grandstand, the seat should protect the person from interference from the feet of people in the row behind. Seats need a solid back, with no gap that allows foot contact. The Albany seat provides this protection.

SAFETY: The 'nip points' were eliminated by clever detailing of the plastic to prevent possible entry of body parts.

The practise of 'Mexican Waves' and other excitement that causes people to stand and sit again possibly without looking to see if the seat is still there is a significant hazard associated with tip-up seats. The seat has a built in 'tilt limiter' that restrains the seat in the three quarter up 'wave safe' position. Additional pressure allows the seat to be fully tilted for access and cleaning.

DIMENSIONS: The geometry was thoughtfully conceived to provide a slim 260mm-plan dimension when tipped up.

AESTHETICS: The designers chose to style the seat in a soft organic feminine form. This styling differentiates it from the norm where robust masculine aesthetics prevail, and reflects the increasing sophistication of the stadia usage. The style also hints at its pacific origin where populations live in coastal regions and maritime forms of colours can be seen in its individual and 'en masse' presentation.

VALUE: Value is the ratio of benefits to cost. To establish a value lift over the competition not only do benefits have to be enhanced but costs have to be reduced. Competitors costs were established by 'reverse engineering' their products. Their costs were all quite similar. One-third in the plastic, one-third in the bracketry and one-third in the installation. The cost had to be taken from one or more of those areas.

It was difficult to identify how the plastic could be reduced, so the objective was to get it to perform more tasks. Bracketry was substantially reduced, and a single bolt fastening was developed to minimise installation costs.

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Reference Sites

Final Proof

V.R.S. released the Albany Arena Seat onto the Australian market in November 1998, following extensive trialing in the New Zealand market, where a number of installations have occurred, including the installation of 20,000 seats at the new North Harbour Stadium in Auckland.

Since release in Australia, spectacular success has been achieved with both contracts tendered being secured - the new Grahame Park 20,000 seat stadium at Gosford (70 km North of Sydney) which is to be the new home for ARL North Sydney Bears and the highly prestigious 10,500 seats for Centre Court at the Olympic Tennis Centre Stadium, is the current jewel in the crown.

Both contracts were secured against fierce competition from established seating suppliers and both clients made their decisions based upon the comfort and ergonomic features that the Albany Seat brings to a facility.

The Albany Seat is part of a growing family of stadia seats and seating accessory items. VRS is receiving many accolades for the inventive design and installation techniques associated with the Albany Seat and the product is quickly establishing new benchmarks for stadia seating in the Pacific region.

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