Złota Bila, Blue City, Warszawa

On the third floor of the Blue City shopping centre in Warsaw lies Złota Bila, a billiards centre at al. Jerozolimskie 179. We furnished it with 88 sofa modules, 105.6 linear metres of seating and 76 chairs, that is, about 280 seats, in four weeks.

Scope

One shade across 105 metres of sofa and 76 chairs

The whole room went in the velour Bluvel 68: the seating and the chairs, in the same shade. At an area like that it is not an aesthetic decision but a production one.

Fabrics come in batches, and a batch ordered later can differ in shade from the first. On an order of this size the material has to be secured in full from the start, because reordering the missing ten metres six months later would have ended in a visible difference in a room where all the seating is within sight.

Chairs in the same material as the sofas give one more thing: the playing area and the serving area read as one interior, even though they have different functions and are separated by different back heights.

Two back heights divide the room without partitions

At Złota Bila the sofas do not only provide seats, they also separate the playing area from the lounge and serving part. We solved that with the furniture alone, without building partitions.

PARIS is 95 cm tall and dresses the room without blocking the view of the billiard tables. PARIS MAX is 120 cm and closes the zones where guests sit longer. The difference of twenty five centimetres is enough for the room to read as two spaces, and not as one large hall.

That is why the ratio is what it is: 48 modules of the tall PARIS MAX against 40 of the low PARIS. In an entertainment venue it is the lounge zones that need a clearer boundary than the playing area itself.

Why 88 modules and not a few long runs

Each module is 1.2 linear metres, and that length was chosen from the doors, the lift and the stairwell, not from aesthetics. A venue on the third floor of a shopping centre means every single part had to go into the goods lift and through service corridors.

As standard we make modules of one metre and of 1.2 metres, and the maximum we recommend is 1.4 metres. On an order of this size the division stops being a detail and becomes the condition for the furniture arriving at all. We place the joints so that they end up where they do not show.

Four weeks on a hundred and five metres

We agreed the deadline with the customer at four weeks, and that is how long the whole order took: 88 sofa modules and 76 chairs.

For comparison, it is worth setting that against our project at the bakery and café Kaffel in Gliwice, where 5.3 metres of sofa and twelve chairs came about in the same time, also four weeks. The scale differs by a factor of twenty, the deadline does not. With furniture sewn to measure the bottleneck is not the number of metres, but the moment the decision on fabric and measurements is taken.

Unloading in a shopping centre has its window

A venue on the third floor of a shopping centre means the delivery does not happen when it suits the carrier. The centre sets an unloading window, and at Złota Bila it fell late in the evening.

We planned the transport around that time, and it was no problem. An order of this size does not travel by courier van anyway, but on a large vehicle from a forwarding company, so the unloading had to hit the centre’s dock on the hour.

In buildings with an imposed schedule, that is, shopping centres, hotels and venues in dense city centres, the delivery time is part of the order and not a detail settled at the end. Say so at the quotation stage, so that it does not turn out on delivery day that the vehicle is standing at a closed dock.

What that means for a smaller venue

A typical serving venue orders 10 to 30 linear metres from us. Złota Bila is three to ten times more, and at Stara Przepompownia in Ostrów Wielkopolski it was more still, 130 metres. The way of working is the same at any scale: measuring, a proposal for the division into segments, an approved drawing, production.

Złota Bila also gives a reference point you do not usually have: 105.6 metres of sofa plus 76 chairs is about 280 seats. That comes to roughly two places per linear metre of sofa.

If you are planning a room of a dozen metres or so, convert it to your own scale. For longer meals count fewer, because there people sit more loosely, and then you should rather work on 1.2 to 1.5 metres per table for four. We take orders from 1 linear metre, so there is practically no lower limit.

Frequently asked questions

How much furniture went into Złota Bila?

88 sofa modules, that is, 105.6 linear metres, plus 76 chairs. The models PARIS and PARIS MAX, each module 1.2 metres.

How many seats does the room have?

About 280. That is roughly two places per linear metre of sofa, plus 76 chairs.

Why two different models in the same room?

PARIS is 95 cm tall and dresses the room without blocking the view of the billiard tables. PARIS MAX is 120 cm and closes the lounge zones. Together they divide the space without partitions.

Which fabric was used at Złota Bila?

Velour Bluvel 68 on everything: 105.6 metres of sofa and all 76 chairs in one shade. Every fabric we propose for serving venues has at least 40 000 Martindale, and most of the range above 100 000.

Do you take orders of this size?

Yes, though a typical venue order is 10 to 30 linear metres. At a larger scale what matters is reserving fabric from the same batch and dividing the modules according to the route through the building.

How does delivery to a venue in a shopping centre work?

To the unloading window the centre sets. At Złota Bila it fell late in the evening, and we planned the transport around it. An order at this scale travels on a large vehicle from a forwarding company, not by courier van, so the unloading time is agreed in advance.

What do PARIS and PARIS MAX cost?

PARIS from 2 600 NOK per linear metre, PARIS MAX from 2 900 NOK. Chairs we price separately, per piece.

Can a room be divided by the furniture alone?

Yes, and Złota Bila is the example. The difference in back height between the base model and the MAX variant, 95 against 120 cm, is enough.

How long did the project at Złota Bila take?

Four weeks, in line with the deadline agreed with the customer. Our project at Kaffel in Gliwice, twenty times smaller, took just as long.

Do large orders also travel by courier van?

No. Smaller and standard orders we send by courier on EUR pallets, while for orders like Złota Bila we arrange transport with a large vehicle from a forwarding company.