A Solitary Bench

A solitary bench sits in front of a painting.

Those few words already suggest the setting must be a museum.

But that iconic, solitary bench has detractors. Some understandably say we need far more seating. Some understandably call them an accessibility problem: armless, backless seats are hard on older patrons, mothers, and anyone who’s tired.

I agree on both fronts. There should be more seating, and there is no good reason every seat can’t have a back and arms.

But some advocate a kind of radical uniform comfort: benches everywhere, an endless lounge in the name of visitor rights. Many design projects start that way. But here’s how they all end:

Put seating where you want visitors to sit.

Yes, you need a little bit of seating in exhibition galleries, for the needful audiences mentioned above. But no more.

Where do you want plentiful seating? In your cafés and theaters, where you do want your visitors to sit for a while.

(Often essentially paying to do so. A museum is a business.)

Here’s the thing:
We should have more seating. And it should be accessible. But it shouldn’t be everywhere.

Put seating where you want visitors to sit.

Warmly,
Jonathan

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MtM Word of the Day:
LED. Acronym for "light emitting diode." In museum exhibitions, LED typically refers to a digital display surface made of tiles that can be assembled into many sizes and shapes. Made of teensy light bulbs that emit colors directly. Easily confused with LCD, a different technology usually in the form of flat screens.