BENCH – Winning Competition Proposal – Project Space 2012 – Amsterdam, NL

BENCH is a series of public places entirely build out of scrap.

noun
1. a long seat for several people
2. a long, sturdy work table
3. (the bench) the office of judge or magistrate

The proposed project is an experimental building practice, and a direct responds to the current debate about space and ownership, lifestyle and interdependencies.

BENCH is a portable and flexible urban furniture that can take on various functions: a cinema, a meeting point, an urban kitchen table,.. It can be build within a short period of time and it is adaptable to alternative functions and sites.

BENCH is a call for collaboration particularly directed at the youngsters of Nieuwendam Noord, Amsterdam, who inhabit the area and who therefore are the specialists, knowing best about the fears, the needs and the desires of this place we are addressing. – They are actively engaged in the process of decisionmaking, the design and the actual realization of the project: BENCH.

What is proposed is a series of public places built from left over materials like wood slats, old pallets, empty paint buckets, a broken guitar, bottle boxes, etc. that will infiltrate and activate the area, offering a platform for interaction: collective cooking, open air screening, open workshops, performances,..

BENCH acts as catalysts, re-animating the public realm through the particular strategy of engagement and empowerment. It will shape and transform the public space into a place to meet, a place that takes on meaning, a place of personal identification – most crucially, a place of constant growths and change.

BENCH is part our Urban Islands Project