Why Sit When You Can Play?
Clients: Artz Pedregal; City of Fort Lauderdale; Straz Center for Performing Arts; EDENS; Madison Marquette; Adventure Science Center
Locations: Mexico City, Mexico; Tampa, FL - USA; Fort Lauderdale, FL -USA; Nashville, TN - USA; Indianapolis, IN -USA; Fort Myers, FL - USA; Woburn, MA - USA; Alamo, CA - USA
Service: Design & Fabrication
Awards: Architizer A+Award; International Design Awards - Gold
“Why sit when you can play?” is a musical public park bench system we designed to begin to bring the everyday park bench back to life. The park bench used to be an opportunity for spontaneous conversation and interactions, but now it has turned into a spot to check your phone for emails or Instagram likes. With this design, we wanted to inject life back into the park bench by providing an open-ended playful moment within the built environment. Our benches’ unique forms are custom created based on the specific space in which they reside.
“The Urban Conga has the right thinking we need to help make The Straz a place where people participate in our campus – a place where they can play and enjoy themselves.”
The flowing organic form is designed to encourage different levels of seating interactions, from a romantic couple to a large jam session. The benches also have musical sections that each contain two octaves of musical notes. The notes are made from solid aluminum bars that are cut individually to resonate a specific note. The musical notes can either be played with attached mallets or sat on as a part of the bench. The benches not only provide a fun, playful opportunity within a space but also become an iconic landmark for the area in which they are placed. They not only engage the direct users but also provide an opportunity for spectators to watch and enjoy the playful sounds.
“They have been a huge success, and people of all ages enjoy playing with the benches. ”
