Cultural icons

LARGE-SCALE public buildings such as the Millennium Arts precinct are usually expected to be indicative of their surroundings. In most cases though, how the building is perceived from the outside is usually the extent of any distinction.

When designing the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art building, the end result had to be iconic of its location both the immediate locale and in a wider, Australian context. However, the architects wanted to ensure that the character of the building was continued into the interior spaces and fittings as well, says a Civic Seating spokesperson.

"Civic worked closely with Architectus to design and produce a seating product that was unique to the Australian Cinemathéque located within the gallery."

The first of its kind in an Australian art museum, the Australian Cinemathéque comprises two cinemas one a dedicated cinema with seating for 224, while the other is a multi-purpose cinema/multimedia gallery capable of seating 112.

In the larger of the two cinemas, the requirements for the seating included the use of Australian tallowwood timber, and a high level of comfort for patrons.

"Once the seating design concept, in which Civic's technical division played an integral role, was finalised, the seats manufactured from an injection moulded seat core with dual density, high resilience foam could be installed.

For the smaller cinema/multimedia gallery, an entirely different solution needed to be found.

"As the space was designed to be multi-purpose, we installed an Audience Systems retractable seating unit widely regarded as the benchmark in retractable seating systems worldwide. The unit is motorised, and the seats automatically fold down when retracted for storing. As with the dedicated cinema, tallowwood seat backs and bases were stipulated for the seating, as well as for the step edges and fascia panels," says the spokesperson.

For details contact, Civic Seating Pty Ltd, 2 Bonnick Rd, Gympie, QLD 4570, phone (07) 5483 7011, fax (07) 5482 9746. Email: civicseating@gotalk.net.au.

Story by: Trendsideas