Public bench

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Concept

The design was inspired by the “locks” concept and how two different objects can be attached together like the mechanism of the locks so I wanted to combine two materials in one object. “Locks” was a very broad topic, so I specifically chose how people get locked in one place; whether waiting for someone to come or something to happen, or just waiting for the bus to arrive.

I started designing a bench for malls or closed public spaces that have the movement of the snake and can be adjusted to different settings. The joint was inspired by the articulated public bus, same material (rubber coated fabric) and mechanism. While the seat itself is made from wood. But then the wood would be too light to be put in a public space so I chose rubber-coated metal. The idea was to make people in control of their own personal space and in charge of their seating position by playing with joints and connections. So the bench is designed to stretch/rotate left or right. The materials are not very light since it is located in a public place so it should not be too light; but it is also easily adjustable. So if a group of friends want to sit together, they can rotate the seat to form an L shape instead of a line to make it easier for them to communicate together. But when people want to be alone or to have a bigger personal space, they can just pull away the seat to have more space. So in a way, it makes people feel more comfortable and feel safer.