Layer designs have designed a cinema seat for social distancing while watching a movie in cinema halls. The chair is called Sequel and is knitted from anti-bacterial copper threads that are coloured in mid-century pastels featured in Wes Anderson’s films.
The seat is a premium product that aims to encourage people to return back to the cinemas as per the ‘new normal’. A series of hygiene features into this fabric and structure allows it to be a safe seating.
The seat has a 3D Knitted upholstery that has fibres impregnated with antiviral and antifungal properties, the copper oxide that is granted to have antibacterial properties. The fabric is stain and water-resistant. The fabric is designed to eliminate crevices that could act as dirt traps.
Wes Anderson is known for his use of colour palettes in all of his movies. The Layer’s seat is coloured in light pink and blue pastel shades, taking inspiration from Wes Anderson’s films like the Grand Budapest Hotel. The idea behind it is to give the seats a sense of connection to the cinematic world and at the same time to distinguish them from the usual red and black tones seen in a cinema hall.
The design is modular and can be arranged in rows at any desired length making it suitable for various types of cinema halls.
LED lights would have the row numbers on the floor and also on the headrest. The headrest even has an immersive audio experience for the viewers to intensify the experience. The attractive part of the seats is the mechanism that allows the display of the seat numbers with the name of the person it is reserved to avoid audience members to bump into each other. This measure is mainly to follow the social distancing norms by making the design easy to self-navigate.
“It is currently predicted that the global box office could lose $10 billion due to the pandemic. Sequel Seat offers the opportunity for cinemas to transform the cinema experience for moviegoers and tackle these challenges in a meaningful way,” said Layer.
“We believe that a product like Sequel Seat will play a key role in encouraging people to come back to the cinema,” added Benjamin Hubert, founder Layer.
A protective screen is attached to each seat to provide a barrier between each member. Although, these barriers are easily removable when the social distancing measures are no longer needed. The seat has a swivelling side table that has a cup holder and a space for keeping food, made from polymer making it easy to clean. Every seat can be fully reclined and extended with a control panel on the armrest. These controls can even adjust the lumbar support and the temperature of the seat.
The seat also has a storage unit for bags and jackets to keep them outside the aisle. The shape formed by the design gives a V-shaped storage opening for every seat. UV light is included on the rear of each seat to sterilize the seat behind it.
In today’s time, when the OTT platform and several other virtual portals have an access to a cinema, it is necessary to update this experience from time to time. There is a need to differentiate the cinema experience in a growing streaming market. With this cinema seat, and enhanced comfort along with safety features allows the cinema halls to be a safe place for the audience.
The layer has designed many smart seating concepts for cars and airlines. The Move seating concept for Airbus that allows the passengers to control their personalized seating conditions.
