Final Design

Rationale

For the Sense of Place project, i decided to design a seating arrangement that would promote social interaction with many users. It is suitable for about 5 or 6 people, users can arrange the seating to how they like and the design is strategically placed near the centre of all the major facilities in the park so users from everywhere can interact with my design and interact with other people.

My design is made from Polyethylene, each individual block is made through rotational moulding and then fitted together to form the final design. I chose to use Polyethylene since it is a durable material and it is also a new material in terms of street furniture. Most common public benches and seating are typically made from wood, aluminium and stainless steel. I wanted to be more innovative with my material choice and not use a material that is already commonly used. Polyethylene is a suitable material that can be used outdoors; it is not as energy intensive during the manufacturing stage compared to materials like aluminium and most other plastics. The whole piece was designed to fit together and also stay together to prevent vandals from removing a piece of the design and vandalising it.

I chose the colour green simply to blend in with the environments that i have chosen. The three areas that i used were very ‘green’ and were surround by a lot of trees, shrubs and grass which help blend in the design with its surroundings. The simple shape and design of the product ensure it is robust and suitable to be used in many different public areas by many different people.

The design is safe for children; it is practical and is functional. It is easy to use and understand so all ages of people will instantly know how to interact with the piece. My design is modular so there are some major components which do not move and then attached to the main piece are smaller blocks that can move and slide through the use of small ‘tracks’ on the edges. This ensures my design can be mass manufactured and each site can have a custom sized piece with more or less extra seating blocks depending on how busy and how widely used the space will be.