2013
Urbench
NCAD, Dublin
Project Background
Something has been lost in our “public spaces”, we have the right to be in them, but not to be a part of them. Urbench focuses on creating interactive public spaces by establishing a sense of ownership within a community. It is public furniture that creates a designed intervention, which encourages users to be more thoughtful on their day-to-day journeys. Urbench asks people to reconsider what defines a public space and see that chance interactions are needed to truly feel like a part of our public spaces.
Urbench utilizes a series of columns, which illuminate when manipulated by its users. These columns can be used to create a series of seating arrangements and lighting patterns. Users need to be aware of others in their surroundings,
which create unintentionally shared experiences with those around them. The bench is designed to comply with British Standards, and proportions were decided using the golden rule. A blog of the Urbench project and its development can be found at: http://bit.ly/1wb6clt
Above is the degree show table I created to illustrate my bench. For the NCAD Degree Show, we were given a meter squared table to display our work. I wanted people to have a sense of how the Urbench felt and worked in a public setting. I created a scale model of the the Urbench, which people could interact with and manipulate the lighting columns. In the same style as the scale model, I created a housing box for a monitor to show video of the Urbench model in use.
