︎︎︎ Fence Bench

City bench for the city of Nijverdal in the shape of a farm fence that pivots so you can sit opposite or next to each other. Nijverdal is a small city in the east of the Netherlands that a hundred years ago was not more than a few farms at the bottom of a hill. Even today this agricultural past is still very present. In the city center the old farm houses are rubbing shoulders with modernist apartment buildings from the sixties.

The city of Nijverdal asked me to design an entrance to the city shopping area with public seating. The fence construction of the bench refers to the old farm house entrance fences, at the same time the pivoting construction allows the benches to change position. So you can take a seat opposite of each other, or move the benches to sit in a row. This turns the classic street bench into a dynamic and social tool that doubles as a symbolic entrance to the pedestrianized area.

Metal
400 / 45 / 70 cm

Commissioned by the city of Nijverdal

Photography © Studio Chris Kabel