Sense of Place

The brief of this project is to create an innovative public furniture element that helps give a public space its sense of place and encourages the community to proudly use their local areas with their neighbour. For this project I have decided to design a recliner bench, which is incorporated with a bicycle rack. Firstly, I chose the place and I have decided to revitalize Joynton Park in Zetland. The reason behind it is because it is a nice local park which sometimes being used by people to read books, walking their dogs and rest after cycling around the park. However, as I observed the place, I can’t feel the sense of community there as people don’t stay there for long and they sit separately on the grass. I also observed that there is no comfortable benches or the place to sit on except on the grass or at the BBQ area, which sometimes is being booked and can’t be used publicly. I also did the survey and people think that wet grass often what resist them to sit and relax at the park. So I came up with a bench design which has an luxurious organic shape and bicycle rack which can be used by people to relax as they finished cycling and read books as well as promoting social interactions through the allocations of these benches at the park. The recliners will also have shade to protect them from direct sunlight. The recliner will be made out of ply- wood and it will be oiled to protect them in various weather conditions. The bicycle rack however will be made out of steel as it is durable and will be galvanised to protect it from corrosion.