Bunkamura was completed in 1989 as Japan's first large scale complex cultural facility.
Other than Orchard Hall, with its main purpose to organize classical concerts, Theatre Cocoon, where arts using bodily expressions such as plays are performed, and Le Cinéma , a high grade mini theater equipped with the most cutting edge digital projection system, there is also a Museum and Gallery. It has been broadcasting culture and art to the world from Shibuya over 30 years.
Orchard Hall is the largest scale shoe box shaped hall in the country. It has a distinct architecture with a high ceiling, two perpendicular side walls, and and shallow balcony seats, imitating the three great halls of the world, the Wiener Musikverein in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Symphony Hall in Boston.
The audience seats are a combination of wood that is strong notes of red and deep red upholstery. The distinctive traits of the design are how the wood is bent as if holding the back and seat cushions, and the backboard that stretches straight in line with the back of the person sitting on the seat.
The golden seat number plate is positioned not on the wooden top of the backboard, but at the top of the front of the backrest, and while performing the function of bearing the seat number, which is indispensable for a hall seat, it also acts as an embellishment of the design.
In 2011, facility improvement work was done for the first time since its establishment. At the time, the seats in the front and center block of the first story were renewed into a staggered arrangement to improve ease of viewing the stage. And in 2015, functional changes were made to the seats in a bid for further improvements in hospitality.
Before they were improved, the seats formed a rectangle when looked at from the side, but the new seats named Spacia and developed by Kotobuki Seating formed a triangle. As the area touching the back of the knees of the person seated was made thinner than the area on the side of the person's bottom, it formed a triangle shape.
By Spacia, those seated can get more extensive space for their feet. Furthermore, if there are other visitors who want to pass in front of one's seat, just by pulling their feet back, they can create space for the other visitors to go through.
Also, another advantage of Spacia is that anyone can smoothly perform the act of "pulling their legs" that is performed naturally when sitting or getting up from the seat. As the person seated can pull their legs to their body's center of gravity while seated, they can easily stand up even without resting their hands on the armrests to support their bodyweight.
At the time of the seat renewal, the older model seats, the standard type, and Spacia were brought in, and the Orchard Hall‘s staff experienced the difference between them and the existing seats. A check was performed on the actual hall seats and the it was decided that Spacia's shape was the most comfortable.
Together with the change to Spacia, the row number plates fixed on the seats on the sides of each row were also changed to a bigger font to distinguish the characters more easily. Seat number plates were also fixed on the reverse side of the backrests to make it easier to find one's seat from the row behind.
It was reborn as a facility with a high barrier-free degree.
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