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Posts Tagged ‘Benches’

Mobile Urbanism: Wheeled Benches & Planters Let Public Reconfigure Square

08 Sep

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

A former parking has become a Green Oasis in front of Poznan, Poland’s city hall, but beyond providing seating and greenery the redesign adds another key element: effectively endless flexibility.

Custom-created benches and planters (filled with an array of taller trees and shorter flora) create a system of mobile street furniture that can be configured in an infinite variety of ways.

Normally, independent islands allow small groups to gather. As needed, though, the benches can be matched up for anything from public speeches to in-the-round performances — the modular geometry of the 14 benches and 20 planters allows them to befit together like pieces of a puzzle.

Developed by Atelier Starzak Strebicki, this modular courtyard serves as a gathering space, open-air amphitheater or auditorium — the street furniture elements can also be moved out of the way entirely if the entire square is needed.

The seats are also doubled-up, allowing people to sit on a higher or lower tier (or both simultaneously for crowded events). At the same time, the furnishings are sufficiently heavy that no one need worry about someone walking (or rolling) away with them at the end of the evening.

These fairly simple but robust steel-and-wood designs provide a nice industrial-style contrast with their historic surroundings, and suggest another way of thinking about public furniture, one which allows it to serve different functions on demand.

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Brothers in Benches: Pallets Offer Public a Place to Sit

04 Sep

[ By Steph in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

Pallet Benches 1

Packing down nearly as flat as they were before they were modified, six interlocking structures made of pallets unfold to reveal a variety of seating options with greenery poking out of the bench backs. Johannesburg artist r1 was asked to develop the public seating as part of a residence program in the city aiming to enliven public space and come up with innovative ways to contribute to the community.

Pallet Benches 5

Pallet Benches 3

All six units can be combined into one larger structure, grouped together in smaller configurations or used alone. Each one contains two fold-down benches that can be used back-to-back, side-to-side or on a diagonal.

Pallet Benches 2

Pallet Benches 4

Made of discarded pallets, each one is on wheels so it can be moved quickly and easily. In addition to providing comfortable places for locals to congregate, the seats bring a little greenery into the urban environment.

Pallet Benches 6

Pallet Benches 7

Other unconventional iterations of urban furniture have included UFO-inspired loungers, ‘stair squares’ and even seats that require strangers to interact with each other.

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[ By Steph in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

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Social Seating: 14 Public Benches Foster Urban Interactions

22 Jun

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

social bench curved center

Breaking, bending, twisting and warping wood, this ongoing series of installations fosters new forms of interaction within cities, challenging that most iconic piece civic furniture: the public bench.

social bench v shape

social bench facing seats

social bench lounge chair

Award-winning artist Jeppe Hein from Copenhagen (currently working in Berlin) has installed his Modified Social Benches at indoor galleries and outside in cities around the world.

social bench street series

social bench interaction examples

social bench dual seats

To their creator, these are about more than just sculptural expression – on their origins: “Out of investigating architecture, communication, and social behavior in the urban space, a series of bench designs was born.”

social bench pillow roll

social bench city park

social bench skate boarder

Some engender specific and calculated responses, like sitting and facing your seatmate or climbing to reach an elevated seat suspended above. Others are more like puzzles or mysteries – it is up to the user to figure out what to do with them.

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Social Seating 14 Public Benches Foster Urban Interactions

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Urban Farm Kit: Modular Chicken Coops, Planters & Benches

27 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

urban kit of parts

A solution for all seasons and regions, the premise is simple: every would-be urban farmer has space, weather and other growing constraints, and yet draws from the same set of essential needs.

urban farming exploded axon

For some folks the focus may be raising chickens and a few hardy outdoor plant varieties that can stand the shifts in weather.

urban farm detail box

For others, perhaps in colder climates, built-in storage compartments (that helpfully double as benches) and miniature greenhouse spaces may be the essential or desired accessories.

urban farm modules benches

urban farm planting platforms

urban farm system parts

A series of wooden slats rhythmically wrap the exterior, creating both material continuity between sections as well as a way to hide joints between separate pieces in plain sight.

urban farm wood wire

urban famr chicken coop

urban farming module prototype

The currently-built prototype features dark-stained natural wood and examples of most of the potential modules, demonstrating their feasibility. It includes the wired outdoor area and indoor coop for chickens, for instance, as well as a planter and a secret storage bench section.

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