Ariake Coliseum (Renewed),
Ariake Tennis Forest Park

Ariake Coliseum after renovation

In July 2019, the renovation of the Ariake Coliseum, a stadium located on the grounds of Ariake Tennis Park, was completed. The main renovation project in the auditorium was to provide viewing space for up to approximately 300 seats for wheelchair users, their caregivers, and additional amenity seating, as well as to completely renovate the seating.

The issues that have been raised in the past with the seating have been the comfort of the chairs and the size of the aisles. The chairs had been carefully used for many years with repeated maintenance, but their size was a bit cramped for the modern Japanese physique, and the one-piece construction with the back and seat integrated into one piece caused aisles to become narrow. To solve this problem, a flip-up stadium seat with separate back and seat was introduced for all seats.

Three different types of stadium seats in different areas, all in the same blue color as the court

All seats have been converted to a two-piece type with a flip-up seat, making both the back and seat one size larger than those of conventional chairs.

The chairs in the VIP seating area are cushioned seats with urethane wrapped in upholstery. The seats are not connected to each other, but are spaced apart to enhance the sense of individual seating and differentiate the space them from other areas.

The area near the court, which is the lower half of the entire seating area, is characterized by the rounded shape of the chairs. The grained surfaces of the back and seat prevent the spectator from losing their posture when seated, and the armrests between the seats, which also serve as a partition, allow the spectators to rest their elbows when seated.

The high-rise area is lined with square-form chairs. The near-vertical angle of the back naturally fits the looking down posture. The absence of armrests accentuates the slim form of the flounced seat integrated with the backrest, allowing the aisle to be used more neatly and spaciously.

Two-piece type with flip-up seat for wider aisles and improved seating comfort

In facilities used by an unspecified number of people, the aisle in front of the chairs must have a defined dimension in consideration of evacuation in case of emergency.
When the number of seats in a limited space must be restricted, the depth of the chairs that can be placed in a given row is naturally smaller than the distance between the front and back of each row. Half of the existing chairs were one-piece seats, which had the same depth dimensions both when unoccupied and when seated. But the introduction of the two-piece flip-up type has reduced the depth dimensions when unoccupied. The aisle dimensions that must be secured are limited to when the seat is unoccupied, allowing for a wide seat depth when the seat is lowered. This not only ensured safety, but also improved seating comfort.

New handrails have been installed in the vertical aisles of the seating area, allowing smooth passage up and down the stairs.

Facility Overview: Ariake Tennis Park continues to evolve

Ariake Tennis Park opened in 1983. The park has an Ariake Coliseum with a capacity of approximately 10,000 people, a show court with a capacity of 3,000 people, as well as outdoor and indoor tennis courts, grass plazas, walking paths, and jogging courses that are easily accessible to the public. The Ariake Coliseum, known as the Tennis Hall of Fame in Japan, will continue to create a lot of excitement with its courts and seating that have been reborn in blue.

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