S •Bench was a concept street bench developed for the Design Museum Boston Street Seats design challenge. Our brief was to design an iconic bench for the Fort Point Channel in South Boston’s up-and-coming Innovation District. We developed a design that would give people a choice of relaxing at the waterfront or engaging in the area’s vibrant open spaces. The unique design comfortably seats four people (with enough surface in between for an ad-hoc table) or two people in a lounging position.
Our Inspiration
As always, we started our design process by talking to the people we were designing for. We chatted with a whole range of residents, workers, tourists and other passers-by in the Fort Point area to understand what they valued about the location. From these insights we learned that people were excited about the duality of vibrancy (from the open spaces) and relaxation (from the waterfront) at Fort Point. We decided to develop a bench that embodied these values.
What we learned
We had a tight deadline to meet for the project submission, which resulted in significant improvements to our design process. We put together a clear structure and plan for developing S•Bench, which had positive implications for future project management clearer communication with future consulting clients about this process and the services we were offering them.
What we will remember
This project has definitely had some long-lasting effects on us! After extensive research on different bench designs and talking with people about these designs, we are no longer able to walk past a simple park bench without giving it at least a little bit of critique!