Foster&Partners: Gateshead

Conference centers, meeting rooms, airport and train station halls, waiting areas, cinemas, theaters, and concert halls… all of these are technologically and operationally demanding buildings where systematic seating solutions are needed. Collectively, we refer to this specific topic as public seating.
We have prepared a four-part series in which we present international solutions in public spaces based on several global realizations. The world leader in this technologically challenging discipline of interior design is the Spanish company Figueras, whose systematic and progressive public seating solutions can be found in buildings designed by architects such as Norman Foster, Ricardo Bofill, Frank O. Gehry, and Jean Nouvel.

Project
The Sage cultural center in Gateshead, UK, was designed several years ago by the architectural firm Foster & Partners. The building on the banks of the River Tyne quickly became an icon of the city and one of the main social centers of Gateshead, as well as an internationally recognized music venue. The dominant feature is a monumental glass roof and facade, which most resembles a shrink wrap around the mass of the building. The design and construction of the building took ten years, with dozens of specialists in acoustics, musicians, and interior designers involved alongside the architects. The development team from the Spanish company Figueras specifically created a new line of public seating for this project - 137 UK. The center sees around a million visitors each year, necessitating the development of sufficiently durable and ergonomic seats for the main hall.

Technical solution: 137 UK
The architects from Foster & Partners closely collaborated with the developers from Figueras Design Center on the cultural center project in Gateshead. The building was conceived from the outset as a center where people can enjoy music and learn to appreciate it. Inside the building, there are three auditoriums, the largest of which has a capacity of 1,700 seated listeners. The irregular shape of the auditorium and the requirements for the seating defined the brief. For this project, atypical seating (type 137 UK) was designed in a style and with functionalities corresponding to the architect's intentions. Due to the irregular slope of the floor, each chair had to be adjusted to the floor individually, and the selected materials had to meet the demands for high-quality acoustics in the concert hall. Since the Sage Gateshead hall is ranked among the top ten acoustically best auditoriums in the world, the constructors faced numerous complex structural and material challenges. Heating and cooling systems are integrated into the central base of each seat. Request detailed information about this technical solution.

About the project
Sage Gateshead Cultural Center, Newcastle, UK
Architect: Foster & Partners
Client: Gateshead Council
Implementation: 1997-2004
Seating solution: type 137 UK / Figueras Design Center in collaboration with Foster & Partners
Explore complete technical solutions and products from Figueras at www.figueras.com.
In the Czech Republic, comprehensive solutions from Figueras are provided by 3D H. Interiér / www.3dh.cz