Engineering excellence in the wild: Airport bench seats

In every airport in the world, there’s a nervous energy in the air and everyone is bustling. Going to the airport is always exciting. The reason for this, as we all know, is that the design of the bench chairs in airports is amazing and we’re all super excited to see it.

It looks like an ordinary airport bench but take a closer look and you’ll see some clever design features. Behold the Zoeftig Zenky:

These seats are a modular design and there isn’t a single weld in them. The main cross member is a pipe with round and square holes laser cut into it. The mount plates below insert into the laser cut holes and are retained by a single bolt on the underside. It’s rigid and very cheap to make.

The mount plate holds the member that supports the seat itself. This, too, is simply a laser cut piece of steel.

And how are they attached? With these little zinc threaded inserts. They simply slide into the laser cut profile in strategic places and are bolted into. So not only does this thing not have welds- It also doesn’t require any holes to be tapped! I’d be a happy man if I could find a supplier of these inserts for my equipment.

This is an excellent example of a designer achieving a hell of a lot with just laser cut plates and a threaded insert. Every time I’m at the airport, I admire this seat. Next time you fly someplace, while you’re waiting for your flight, put your head down between your legs, take a look and tell me if you agree.