Motion Picture Herald (May-Jun 1936)

Applying the "Continental Plan To American Theatre Seating • The first of a chair arrangeme adaptation of a group of articl nts, beginning seating method es on aisle and with a specific used in Europe By BEN SCHLANGER aisle position in a seating arrangement is a fundamental factor which largely controls the physical form of the theatre. Accessibility, minimum annoyance to patrons already seated by those entering rows, safe and rapid egress and space efficiency are considerations to be dealt with in determining aisle positions. Building codes usually dictate aisle planning. Whether the requirements of the various codes are justified and whether these requirements are based on practical and scientific investigation are therefore matters to be dealt with in this and others to follow in a group of discussions of the various interlocking auditorium plan factors as influenced by aisle positions. The present study is limited, for a reason to be explained later, to the relatively small theatre of about 400 seats, having two or three scheduled showings daily. It is important that it be understood that the plan advocated here is not yet permitted by many building codes. However, similar seating has been in use for many years abroad and is now being provided for in building code revisions in New York City and in Chicago, which cities have substantial influence on codes elsewhere. Many small towns, moreover, are not yet restricted by a building code. Equally important to understand is the increased back-to-back distance between seating rows herein proposed. It is only by this means that the system will work and overcome a source of annoyance to the theatre-going public. This particular discussion is devoted to the application of the so-called "Continental Seating" plan. Briefly, this is a seating plan which has an unlimited number of seats between aisles. This is made safe and comfortable by an increased back-to-back distance, which is a necessary feature of the arrangement. However, in the plan here suggested, the intention is to limit the number of seats between aisles to 18, four seats more than the usual building code limit. It is here considered that the ratio of 2 feet, 8 inches back-to-back, with 14 seats between aisles, and 3 feet back-to-back, with 18 seats, are the same with respect to the requirements of accessibility to seats, and to emergency circulation. EGRESS FACTORS Conservative building codes and building officials have long avoided this method despite proved records of easy egress. The Prinz-Regenten theatre in Munich, built in 1901, offers a notable example of the Continental Seating plan. A test mad** there soon after the theatre was built proved the safety of its plan. This house seats 1,106, with 78 chairs in loges at the back of a rather sharply sloped auditorium. In a timed test before skeptical German fire officials a capacity audience was emptied into the foyers in 90 seconds. And this house has rows of from 50 to 60 seats ! No such width, of course, is suggested in this study. In this country there are at least two examples, the Goodman Memorial theatre in Chicago, where a similar test surprised building and fire officials, and the new Peristyle in the Toledo Museum of Art. The first of these is a legitimate house, the other primarily a concert hall. An aisle arrange 9 SEATS 9 SEATS IfeX SEATS 9Jbi<*.Fr. S.TT AO..FT. PEE. SEAT l+'-O" > 9 ROWS <$ 2.'-8" 9 B.OWS @ 3-0" . n'-o* I a SEATS -36'-0* IM. SEATS 971SHFT. b SO. IT. rCS. SEAT Figure I. Figure 2. t .EQUA.L TO SCE.EEN 360 SEATS AIC DISTANCE 4 TIMES SCe.EEH vuiprw WIPTH e-ECOMMENPEP view 5CE.EEM 20o" 16 -SEAT BANIC FlfcST feXSV LAST" E.OV/ Figure 3. Two diagrams illustrating the effect of width of auditorium on viewing distance. In the lower sketch the screen width was reduced to 18 feet to give necessary room at the sides. If this were a 20-foot screen, the correct viewing distance would be still greater. EQUAL TO SCfcftM WIDTH EECOMMEKJDEt> VI ACTUAL VIEVUKJC ^cceew la'-o" 360 SEATS 14--SEAT BANIC EWIUC DISTANCE = 4TIMES SCE.EEW WIDTH DISTAUCC FOB. SAME. CAPACITY VITH WAtfcOW EC SCB.EEW PIB.ST ctow 8 Better Theatres