Modified Social Bench #02

7 Verlaagde Leieboorden - Broelkaai, Broelkaai

always open

A new series of Modified Social Benches was inspired by research of traditional and modern New York benches. Their design borrows the basic form of ubiquitous park or garden benches, but is altered to various degrees to make the act of sitting a conscious physical process. The benches question the spatial separations in social situations and challenge the amount of space that people feel necessary to set between themselves and others. Distance between people is a kind of non-verbal communication that underlies cultural and social imprints and varies depending on the context. There’s less distance in personal situations among close family and a greater distance in public space where strangers surround us. The Modified Social Benches NY are intended to break with those behavioural patterns in a public space. Even people avoiding contact will allow bodily closeness in the limited space that is provided on the benches. With its modifications, the benches transform its surroundings into places of social activity and foster dialogue between the users and the passers-by. They are part of an amusing game, based on a simple architectural or design intervention and provoke communication. The joyful colours make them even more inviting and exciting.