Check out, quite possibly, the longest bench you’ve ever seen! Studio Weave’s bench, which can accommodate an astonishing 300 people, weaves along the beach at Littlehampton, West Sussex for 324 meters. Part of a larger waterfront redevelopment plan, the bench follows the existing promenade which runs from the harbor toward Worthing, and terminates at the East Beach Café.
More about this crazy bench after the break.
The bench is a colorful and sculpture-esque form that bends and gently dips down and onto the beach at specific points. The colored slats range from yellows to blues to greens, calling attention to the different twists and turns the bench takes. “Like a seaside boardwalk the Longest Bench rests gently on its habitat and adapts to its surroundings while like a charm bracelet it connects and defines the promenade as a whole, underlining it as a collection of special places that can be added to throughout its lifetime,” explained the architects.
The bench is comprised of thousands of wooden slats from reclaimed tropical hardwood. A cool idea for funding for the project allows people to buy and personalize their own slat. It is the hope that this already lengthy bench will extend up to 612 meters to fit 800 people in the future.
The firm worked with children attending Connaught Junior School to understand their ideas and wishes for the new addition. From this collaboration, the architects learned the children needed new shelters that were cleaner and safer. The architects responded by having the bench “form a simple opening by looping around once…The bench stretches as it approaches a loop and then inside goes a bit haywire, bouncing of the walls and ceiling creating seats and openings.”
If you are interested in personalizing your own piece of the bench, contact longest.bench@arun.gov.uk.
As seen on TreeHugger.
