Yes: 10,000 people can fit in statehouse – comfortably

By MUNGAI KIHANYA

The Sunday Nation

Nairobi,

05 October 2025

Wilberforce Kimariech wrote to “The Watchman” in the Daily Nation asking whether I could work out how much space is required to sit 10,000 people. This was after the event at State House Nairobi where the president hosted teachers from across the country.

We can get a quick answer by starting with the dimensions of the ordinary 100-seater tent. It measures 15 feet wide by 30 feet long. That makes 450sq.ft. Excuse me for using these cumbersome units, but that’s what the manufacturers use.

To accommodate 10,000 people, we would need 100 such tents (100 x 100 = 10,000). These can be arranged in a grid of 10 tents by 10 tents. The total area covered comes to 150ft by 300ft. which is 45,000 square feet. How big is that?

Well, one acre is exactly 43,560sq.ft., so, 100 tents with a capacity of 100 seats each will need about an acre of land. Now that seems like a very large area but, I searched on the internet and found a supplier in China advertising 10,000-seater tents measuring 60m by 100m. That’s equivalent to about 200ft by 300ft (60,000sq.ft.) which is much bigger than what we have calculated above. Perhaps this is because we did not account for the need to leave walking space between every 10 or so rows of chairs.

Next question the is: can such a tent fit in State House? I have never been to State House, but, thanks to modern technology, I don’t have to go there to find out. A quick check on Google Maps in satellite mode reveals that there is a large structure across the open field in front of the main building.

I used the Google ruler to take measurements and found that its total area is about 3,650 square metres which is about 39,000sq.ft. There is no other continuous structure of comparable size in the State House grounds so, I believe this is where the president hosted the delegation of teachers. It probably can’t fit 10,000 even when squeezed together. At best it can take 7,000 and then the remaining 3,000 could have been asked to sit in the open grounds next to this structure.

So, the answer to Wilberforce’s question is YES: 10,000 people can be accommodated in State House. In case you are think that this is too big a structure to build in one compound, remember that this land is more than 700 acres. So, a one-acre feature is barely noticeable.