How to Blend Different Chairs in One Space

By Jenna Brown

February 26, 2021

Offering different ticket levels—like general, club, and suite—is a great way to bring in more guests to your venue’s events. Guests have come to expect more than just distance from the action in their ticket level. Your seating options for different ticket levels can help distinguish the guest experience, but your chairs should also still flow together and offer a cohesive look for your venue.

See how you can offer different seating and amenities for your guests without compromising the aesthetic of your venue.

Offering different seating levels allows guests to embrace different price points.

Most places start with general admission. These seats are often very basic, economy models. Club seating, the next level up, will often have padded seats for greater comfort. Suite level seats will offer deluxe seating options such as theater seating.

Often, these will be divided by their position in the venue. Floor seating, for instance, may be general seating while the suite level or VIP will be higher up.

Sports venues often use color liberally to define the space. We recently outfitted both the St. Louis MLS stadium and the Nashville MLS Stadium. These soccer stadiums are upgraded seating for general admission and club seating. The more premium seating areas offer padded, more deluxe seats while more basic seating is used in the general admission areas.

In these venues, five or six colors are used throughout the space for a spirited, team-oriented feel. Designs are often made with the seats themselves, with emblems and symbols created through the coloring of the seating.

To maintain a cohesive look throughout, the seating is coordinated through color. From a distance, this allows everything to have a well-matched look. Up close, the differences in amenities can be seen.

Another example comes from a project in Alberta, Canada at The Edmonton Eskimos stadium, which used multiple colors, fading from one to the other for a dramatic look. The contrasting colors allow venues to always look full and welcoming. Even when some seating areas are empty, the contrasting colors make all seating areas look active and engaging when the game is shown on TV. This makes for a high-energy environment so that every game, no matter the attendance, feels like an event.

When you use different seating choices, there is a lot we can do to ensure that everything flows well from one section to another. There is no set choice that works for every venue. Venue owners can choose based on their budget and the amenities that they wish to offer their guests. With these in mind, we can create spaces that suit the vision for general, club, and suite areas.

Little Caesars Arena starts with a fairly plush seating choice in even the general seating area. The seating they chose for this section was what would typically be found in an auditorium.

Club level had Signature level seating, for a greater level of comfort. In the suite level, more luxurious seating was used for a premium experience.

When moving from seat type to seat type, spacing is as important as the type of seat you choose. Proper spacing throughout doesn't just ensure guest comfort. It is also a vital factor in the look of the venue overall. We work with you to design your space so that it has a great look throughout.

Irwin’s deep product line provides options for differentiating seating areas to suit every budget. When the Minnesota Vikings needed to update their seating, we started with Solara seats. The general admission area featured the most basic model, with padded seats added to the club level. These seating choices were a big benefit when the stadium hosted the Super Bowl the year after installation. The seats were installed using a rail seating system, which allowed for flexibility in the spacing and increased capacity for the Super Bowl.

Seating choices also come down to what kind of venue and what kind of events are hosted. A venue hosting soccer will start with basic seating like Solara.

Club seating such as the Citation or Millennium will have full padded seats.

In the suite level, we frequently install our Signature chairs. These have taller backs for greater comfort. Cup holders, drink tables, and other amenities can be added for a more premium experience.

Irwin Seating teams work together with venue managers to accomplish the look, feel and experience that you want to give your guests. From restoration projects to a fresh complete installation, we have the layout experience to make the installation run smoothly and to make sure that you have the final layout that will fit your venue best.