Overhauling seating in the listed concert hall, while optimizing fire prevention and acoustics 891 folding seats were refurbished and optimized.
The seating in the auditorium of this listed music and theatre venue in St. Gallen was extremely worn and urgently in need of an overhaul. Girsberger completely renovated a total of 891 fold-down seats. Around 420 seats were restored during the 7-week summer recess and the rest in batches at regular intervals during the normal timetable.
Location
St. Gallen, Switzerland
Architects
Bosshard Vaquer Architekten
Acoustics
Higini Arau Acustica
Product
Upgrading of folding seats, optimization of acoustics and fire prevention features
Photos
Daniel Kuhn
The frames were sand-blasted and smoothed, then re-varnished, the seats and backs were reupholstered with high-quality flame-retardant foam and fabric covers, and the folding mechanisms were overhauled.
As part of the refurbishment Girsberger also added value in terms of acoustics by placing a layer of steel wool onto the back panels and seat panels and then covering this with finely perforated sheet metal before upholstering them so that sound is absorbed in a similar way whether or not there is an audience in the auditorium, thus leaving the acoustics unchanged.