“A bench is there to sit on. That’s its purpose. That’s what it was built for. But if this bench is placed in public space, it can do much more than that. It livens up a place. It offers a place to

rest. It leads to random encounters.” 

But how can we make it more than a bench? I wanted to explore the potential of having a moveable non-fixed public space furniture. In enhancing user engagement by bringing more flexibility I believe we also bring more responsibility and relationship to the public space. I chose to work with perforated metal and I choose a shape which allows a lot of different constellations accommodating bigger groups and also multiple strangers sitting together. It mimics the shape of a typical bench where if two strangers sit, the middle always stays empty. The shape is also very practical in production because it fits perfectly into each other, allowing laser-cutting from a metal sheet with minimal cutoffs.

Exhibited at the Angewandte festival ID1 2024

Photos by Jakub Joch