Why do lounge designers persist with high-top stools when they are not comfortable or productive?
Seeing a row of airline lounge stools makes me think of the boyband of the late 1990s and early 2000s, who were ready to stand awkwardly up at the slightest suspicion of a key change. I don't want it that way.
The business class passenger experience is very uncomfortable, with the passenger trying to tuck their legs onto the single footrest while hunched over a laptop. It isn't easy to use and it isn't accessible either.
High backless stools are the worst. The image is of John Walton.
The use of a high-top stool at a lounge bar is not particularly good at it, so I think it's a good idea to only use it at a lounge bar. I could be convinced if they were limited to bars.
They have spread like a rash to the business areas and dining areas, making it more uncomfortable to be in the lounge. That makes the lounge experience less pleasant.
One of the few places in the lounge that combine charging points with a surface sufficient for more than one electronic device to sit next to a handbag or shoulder bag is where people use them.
The problem is that, functionally, this kind of seating creates a kind of forced liminality: they pressure travellers to use them as a transitional, short-term space because they are inherently uncomfortable.
Lounges don't need liminality to be useful. Lounges are transitional spaces with boarding times that show the end points of a traveller's stay.
The key to a great lounge is to maximize the amount of comfort and productivity, even if it is just an opportunity to charge up devices, download a few movies to a streaming app, or get some actual work done.
What else could be done that wasn't related to high-top stools?
What about the Virgin Australia model? VA has had the best answer for more than a decade, with the desk with bucket chairs first unveiled in its lounge. The long table allows for a great amount of spread-out-ability and the sockets are in the tabletop. This could be spread around the edges of the lounge.
It seems that Virgin Australia understands the importance of having power, data and a comfortable place to work. Virgin Australia.
What about the Cathay Pacific example? There are small booths in the noodle bar section of the lounge. Space-efficient seating, ample working space, and sockets underneath the table are provided by these.
The half-booth option is where against the wall is a wipe- clean booth with a regular chair facing it. The space designed for dining encourages a use of the space that is not always comfortable.
One option is a dining focused space. The image is of United.
A side table that can be used as a laptop desk or hold a plate of something is one of the features that airlines propose in the movable table option. Implementation of this is particularly pleasing, with both a low table and one that can be used for laptop work.
The sofas and tables here by Swiss are smart. The image is of John Walton.
The Pod chair, which takes up more room than a single chair plus work surface but offers a substantially greater amount of privacy and multi-functional space, is another option.
SIA's Pod chairs are great for relaxing with a paper, getting work done or chilling out with a stuffed animal. The image is of John Walton.
Drop the height of the surface and replace the stool with a normal chair, whether that is a work-style spinning wheeled chair, a more traditional dining chair or something in-between.
There are other options, like the London Heathrow lounge board-style table. The image is of John Walton.
There are related articles.
The image was credited to John Walton.
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