Here at Technical.ly, we love a quirky internet thing.
It’s why last year, this reporter talked to the folks behind the Pennsylvania Treasury’s viral Twitter account, and why we took a deep dive into the lives of Philly Reddit moderators.
And it’s why when we noticed the Instagram account CTC Chairs — which documents the variety of modern, funky seating in the Comcast Technology Center — we had to know more.
The account has been around for about a year, and the Comcast employee who runs it said when they moved into the building in 2018, they immediately noticed the design of the building and the “amazing” furniture throughout. (The person who runs the account asked to stay anonymous.)
“The more that I saw of the building, I realized that there was a ridiculous amount of variety,” they said via Instagram DM.
It reminded them of a scene from the movie “Knocked Up,” where Paul Rudd’s character ends up in a hotel room with a bunch of fancy, mismatched chairs.
So, they decided it would be fun to try and document all the chairs in the new Comcast Technology Center. Since June 2019, followers could get a taste of the different chairs, couches, benches and other seating around the 60-story building.
“I immediately realized that I really don’t know much about furniture design,” they said. “However, I do like taking pictures of the various seating that are all over the building.”
Sometimes the employee who runs the account will share where in the building that chair can be found, and sometimes followers get to guess. They’ve been documenting seating for a while now, so they get excited when they spot a new couch or chair.
And while they take plenty of their own pictures around the CTC, sometimes they get submissions from other employees.
The account runner said they bet they’ve seen more than half of the seating options in the CTC — many floors have a similar layout and the same furniture, but in different colors, they said. There’s a lot of variety in the loft lounges, in the cafeteria on Floor 27 and 28, the Ralph J. Roberts Forum, and spaces on Floors 18 and 19, as well as at LIFT Labs, the account runner said.
They haven’t been inside the NBC 10 floor, they said, but have seen interesting submissions from the studio.
Since Comcast employees have been working from home for about two months, the account hasn’t posted any CTC chairs recently — but they’ve started collecting some fellow employees’ work-from-home seating instead. There’s nearly 30 chairs under a new “work from home” highlight on the main account page.
Also a featured highlight (that this reporter finds particularly entertaining) is a collection of pictures of chairs that simply look like they maybe could be in the Comcast Technology Center.
The CTC Chairs account has also inspired a few copycat accounts, the employee who runs the account said, namely @2loganchairs, @ctcfinerthings and @ctcsimplethings.
Out of the many, many options in the building, the CTC Chairs account runner said that they do in fact have a few favorite seating options in the building. First, is a high-backed purple chair they called “captain’s chair,” a favorite for its color, comfort and style.
And secondly is the the custom benches installed in the lobby that wrap around and intertwine with the trees.
“They’re perfect for the space and well-designed,” they said. “I think it makes the lobby more inviting too.”
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