This isn't about seating exactly, but on the topic of grouping, I remember hearing about one particularly stark example from Mike Duncan's Revolutions podcast.

This isn't about seating exactly, but on the topic of grouping, I remember hearing about one particularly stark example from Mike Duncan's Revolutions podcast. During the French Revolution, at one point the National Assembly moved, along with the King, from Versailles to Paris, and immediately became much more partisan and radical. Previously, when the delegates had arrived in Versailles, they had found living space with other delegates from their region of France; after the move to Paris, the party lines had been drawn and delegates moved in with their political allies instead. As an aside, the Legislative Assembly, which followed the Nat'l Assembly appears to have had a horseshoe shape [1]. It didn't even survive for a whole year, although we probably can't blame that on the shape. [1]: http://therevolutionofthefrench.weebly.com/uploads/4/0/5/4/40547621/5802242.gif http://therevolutionofthefrench.weebly.com/uploads/4/0/5/4/4...