Bench Press (2011) functional
furniture
exploration
Brooklyn & Queens, New York, USA Brolab source goo.gl/hJeUQ8 (2014-05-21) Location Authors
In recent decades, benches started disappearing from bus stops as a way for cities to discourage homeless or loiterers. BroLab, a collaborative of artists and sculptors, created BenchPress, a modular system of temporary benches for bus stops that provided the missing comfort of seating for commuters for one day in October 2011 (as part of events organized by the Congress of Collectives at Flux Factory in Queens). Between 4:00 am and 9:00 pm, they assembled, dissembled, and relocated benches that appeared at each of the route’s 80 stops.
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Nuzzles (2014) landmark, functional
construction
humor
Siberia, Russia RAW Design source goo.gl/HKr54e (2014-05-05) Location Authors
Made from a geodesic mesh of hollow aluminium tubing and an outer layer of foam bristles – the floats you play with in swimming pools – the Nuzzles provide an inner layer of still air to keep skaters warm. Inspired by the insulating properties of fur, the designs also glow at night. Skaters are encouraged to nestle – or nuzzle – in the structures and sculpt the bristles into informal seating or standing space. “People of all ages, particularly children, were drawn to the sculptures and engaged with them in a variety of ways; jumping into them, climbing them, and nestling into them,” said Hendershott.
The Totem (2010) functional, landmark
sculpture
sensory trigger
Bucharest, Romania Studio BASAR source goo.gl/hmduuZ (2014-05-23) Location Authors
The requirements of the theme – an urban signal for the Street Delivery event, but also the special location – the former entrance to the property (the house used to be a private residence, the pioneers’ centre, a bookstore, a tea house), determined an intervention of the type figurative TOTEM with a multi-purpose role. The installation object cumulated four functions: cage for a dog (a stray dog or a watch dog), a street advertising board (the original pillar and the car traffic sign already pointed to this urban need), informative plate (a signaling arrow marking the start of the Verona street’s pedestrian portion) and collective bird cribs.