a shared bench

The Bench Go Round, an interactive two-way city bench that spins on its axis, made its debut at the Market Street Prototype Festival in San Francisco in early April 2015. The brainchild of artist George Zisiadis and fabricated by Rachel McConnell, the Bench Go Round was set up at the corner of Embarcadero and Market Streets in the city’s busy Financial District for easy pedestrian access to the project.

The Bench-Go-Round is interactive public seating that encourages connection and play between pedestrians. It promotes a spirit of cooperation and collaboration amongst groups that may not normally interact. It consists of two opposite facing benches, placed side by side across a central balancing point. The benches freely rotate 360 degrees around the central point in either direction. In short, it’s a bench meets merry-go-round. One can use the bench alone for seating. But when someone sits on the opposite bench, a surprising and delightful physical relationship between the two people is formed.

via {laughing squid}