Tiered Seating Past, Present & Future

Bespoke tiered seating platforms are adaptable solutions for venues of different kinds but are most commonly found in cultural and theatre settings. Tiered (or ‘sloped’) seating has a rich history, in fact.

Seating in a tiered design has been around for centuries, and will probably remain popular for centuries to come, for one simple reason: it solves the problem of spectators being unable to enjoy a clear sight of the stage or pitch. At an auditorium or sports arena, who wants to spend their hard-earned cash on a ticket, only to sit for two hours, or even longer, staring at the back of someone’s head, or straining to see around it?

Thank goodness for tiered seating, then. With one’s sightline being elevated above the person in front, a clearer view of the performance is guaranteed (unless you’re stuck behind a pillar, or Gulliver, of course!). That makes tiered seating hard to beat. It’s surely the ideal option at venues where audiences can only really be seated in rows.

Multi-Directional Movement, Or Full Rotation Of The Stand

Tiered seating design has come a long way since days of yore, where thousands flocked to tiered outdoor venues but were quite content to remain perched, sometimes for as long as six hours, on stone seats. Yes, event-goers expect a bit more for their money these days! And it’s not just ticket buyers who love tiered seating at venues across the world. Venue managers are equally smitten with modern tiered platform solutions that can be set out fully or partially and even reduced to the width of a single row (think of an accordion’s bellows being closed up), meaning that floorspace at a sports or concert hall can be maximised. What’s more, sideways movement or even full rotation of the seating stand around a central axis is perfectly possible.

Open A Limited Number Of Tiers Or All Of Them

An established seating manufacturer can offer venues a choice of tiered seating options. Of course, all must be functional and flexible, as well as being easy on the eye. Tiers can be branded in club colours, in fact, or designed with the venue sponsor’s name and/or logo emblazoned across the retractable seat rows.

The telescopic maneuvrability of the stand can be manually or automatically controlled, depending upon your preference, budget, and how often you will (realistically) need to retract or extend tiered rows. If retraction is likely to be frequent, opt for a system with an integrated motor (deploy and fold up any number of tiers via remote control), to take the work out of it. Not that manual operation is back-breaking. Far from it. Weight permitting, simply move the stand using pull-handles. And if you’ve wisely opted to invest in a modular tiered seating system, you can benefit from greater seating configurations than ever before. Separate or join your stand’s various elements as you need to, increase or decrease hall capacity, quickly and with minimum effort.