Across the country, Public Area Seating is a vital part of our high streets, parks and other open spaces. They act as meeting points for friends, a peaceful rest-stop for some, or a spot to enjoy lunch or even a good book. Yes, seating in public spaces is essential to our experience of many of these places.
Naturally, many of us at SIS often wonder: what makes the best communal area seating? Our answer is almost always some form of public bench seating (as the title may suggest!), and here’s why:
What we look for in Public Area Seating
A lot of what draws people towards communal spaces is reflected in the public seating that’s on offer. Thus, the best-designed spaces tend to have bench seating which features these common aspects:
- Comfort – public seating needs to be inviting enough for people to want to rest there temporarily, helping to create a friendlier atmosphere in the communal area.
- Security – benches and other forms of seating need to look and feel durable to provide reassurance to its users. This can mean sturdy material features or a vandal-proof design.
- Convenience – they can’t be located in impractical or hard to reach spaces. Public seating should be accessible to varying types of users (couples, families etc.).
- Wellbeing – public spaces generally are designed to be pleasant to traverse, and seating should therefore try to add to the wellbeing of its users.
Why Bench Seating is ideal for this
Essentially, bench seating has the ability to cover all of these aspects, which is why it’s often the go-to choice for public areas. The benefits of public bench seating include:
- Space They Provide – compared to individual seats, benches can accommodate multiple people, making them great for the convenience and comfort of users.
- Design Flexibility – bench seating can be created to suit a variety of shapes and different sized public spaces. This means that it’s easier to make bench seating practical, meanwhile their design also means that vandal-proofing measures and durability features are easier to add.
- Inviting Qualities – Partly because of their open-ended designs, bench seating can easily be made to focus on the wellbeing of users, helping to add to the friendly atmosphere of many public spaces.
SIS offers bespoke Retractable Bench Seating as well as Fixed Bench Seating if you’d like to read more. And, if you have any questions about public area seating, feel free to Contact Us Here!
