This year, Figueras, a firm specialising in high-end seating for public spaces, equipped the renovated Hall I of UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris with MiniSpace (model 5067) theatre seats. The architecture studio Jacques Duflos + CALQ led the renovation project.
To furnish the room, the Spanish firm entered a public tender and was selected as the only seating manufacturer that met all the requirements. The project entailed equipping the room’s amphitheatre with 526 seats. The company’s main challenge lie in providing seats of maximum comfort for a hall with very tight measurements and narrow gaps between rows. Moreover, each seat required the inclusion of a translation terminal, necessitating a high level of expertise and precision during installation.
Based on its knowledge and experience in this type of work, Figueras chose the compact MiniSpace seat (model 5067) with built-in lectern, which—occupying only 15 cm when folded—was the only suitable option for the project. In addition, the seats needed to be arranged at shallow angles that varied according to their position. Proper distribution, coupled with backrests arranged at angles of 10 and 15 degrees to fit into rows measuring 736 cm and 763 cm in width, respectively, enabled the company to position the 526 seats required, all of which are upholstered with a special Kvadrat fabric and include a communications terminal for simultaneous translations. Experienced fitters and excellent planning on the part of the Figueras team allowed the project to be completed within the scheduled timeframe.
Over the years, Figueras has executed several projects around the world. It has installed over 10 million seats and is present in 130 countries. Among the projects carried out this year is the Corporate Room for the multinational Unilever in Jakarta (Indonesia), which features the 5069-model Micro theatre seat. And last year’s installations include the provision of 300 6036-model Flex seats for the auditorium of the new World War II Museum, the latest architectural landmark in the coastal city of Gdansk (Poland), where the conflict officially began.