parks

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Design

A System of Root-Like Benches Spreads Organically Through a South Korean Public Park

Root Bench is a multi-height bench system installed in Hangang Park in Seoul, South Korea. The design is a winning proposal by Yong Ju Lee, which creates a circular protrusion of roots that provides space for rest and relaxation. The nearly 100-foot diameter installation is formed from conjoined slats of wood attached to a metal frame, and sprawls from a centralized point in the park. Three different heights accommodate children’s seating, adult chairs, and tables for picnicking. This provides space for all sizes, and allows gatherings that vary from intimate to community-wide celebrations. (via designboom)

Design

An Inflated Steel Archway Provides a New Cultural Nexus on a Polish Island

Last year Polish designer Oskar Zieta unveiled the NAWA pavilion, an inflated steel passageway intended to bring cultural activity back to Wrocław’s island of Daliowa. This structure’s reflective, bloated surface makes it look like a weightless mylar balloon despite the fact that is constructed from 35 polished metal arches. Using a technology which Zieta calls FiDU, he inflates the metal by pumping air into the cavity between the arches’ steel sheets which produces a form that is larger and more organically shaped.

Zieta first used this process for the Plopp stool for the design brand Hay in 2008, and has continued to develop his technique on more advanced projects. Durability tests on this particular piece proved that a stool weighing just under ten pounds could withhold a load of approximately 2.6 tons, equivalent to two adult elephants. He hopes to implement the FiDU technique into much larger architectural projects, which would provide structures with a greater durability, even in ultralight constructions.

The reflective NAWA sculpture will remain on the island as a permanent installation as a part of revitalization effort for the previously neglected area. “Today, many people cannot imagine this place without NAWA, which has become part of the surroundings and a point on the map of many tourists from the country and the whole world,” the artist explained. You can learn more about the history of the design, and view more images of the inflated gateway, on Zieta’s website. (via Dezeen)

Art Photography

The Diverse Daily Life of a Ping Pong Table in Germany Photographed by Tomiyasu Hayahisa

In 2011 Tomiyasu Hayahisa started photographing a ping pong table located in a public athletic field across from his dorm in Leipzig, Germany for a series titled TTP. Tomiyasu had first noted the location after observing a white tailed fox perched near the legs of the table, and after waiting several days for the animal to return, he began to photograph the other life forms that congregated or paused near the outdoor game. Rather than spotting the fox, he captured families, partiers, and lonesome daydreamers using the area as a bench or bed.

“At the time I had been living in a student doom in Leipzig and it was possible to photograph from window the table tennis table, how people from different countries use it in their way,” Tomiyasu told Colossal. “And it could be the message of this work that the place could be everywhere.”

If you enjoyed this series, you might also enjoy Yevgeniy Kotenko‘s On the Bench, a project which observed the daily life of a park bench in Ukraine for over a decade. TTP has been shortlisted for the 2018 MACK First Book Award. You can see more of Tomiyasu‘s work on his website. (via This Isn’t Happiness)

Art

A Madrid Plaza Transformed Into a Temporary Park With Over 35,000 Square Feet of Grass

For the 400th anniversary of Madrid’s Plaza Mayor, urban artist SpY (previously) transformed the bustling square into a centralized place of respite. The temporary park titled Cesped, or “Grass,” was created by bringing in more than 35,000 square feet of sod, which formed a perfect green circle at the center of the pedestrian plaza. Over the course of its four day installation last fall more than 100,000 visitors lounged, played, and rested in the celebratory work.

You can watch a time-lapse installation of the project on the Madrid-based artist’s website, and view more urban interventions on his Instagram.  (via designboom)

Photography

A Photographer Captures a Decade in the Life of a Single Ukrainian Park Bench

One of the most ubiquitous sights in any city around the world is the humble park bench: a meeting spot for friends, a place to grab lunch or perhaps a smoke, and maybe a quick snooze. Usually such mundane activities fade easily into the background of our busy lives and we would hardly stop to notice the goings on around a small public meeting spot, but for Ukrainian photographer Yevgeniy Kotenko, one such bench has turned into rich body of photography spanning over a decade titled On the Bench.

Starting in 2007, Kotenko began to shoot a local park bench outside the window of his parent’s fourth-floor kitchen window in Kiev. Sandwiched between a children’s playground and a walking path, the area proved to be a hotspot of colorful characters. Alcoholics, families, and lovers all congregate on the exact same bench during different times of the day, and when observed with Kotenko’s patient eye an almost Shakespearean drama begins to emerge over a decade of photos.

“I wasn’t thinking of making a series or a project,” shares Kotenko with Colossal through a translator. “I didn’t select any particular time frame or set of situations to capture. Not until 2012 did my friends tell me that I should put together an exhibition of these photos.”

The stark contrast in situations—from a picnic table to an impromtu emergency room—results in a fascinating documentary in the lives of local residents and passersby. “I never invested the photos with any particular intention or idea of what I wanted my audience to see,” Kotenko adds. “They will see what they want to see. These photographs are more like a documentary.”

You can see dozens more photos from the On the Bench series on Facebook, and you can follow Kotenko on Instagram. Thank you to Jen Carroll for contributing to this piece. (via Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Design

A Public Park in Taipei Welded From Recycled Light Posts

From the mass of Taipei’s urban waste comes the project “Swings Park,” a public playground area constructed from dozens of unwanted lamp posts. The project is a collaboration between Taipei-based design studio City Yeast and Spanish art collective Basurma, two groups that aim to produce experimental design as positive activations for a city’s infrastructure and its residents. Fabricated in response to Design Capital 2016, the project was one of six selected proposals from the contest whose mission is to provoke urban evolution through public design.

The playground, located directly below one of the city’s busiest overpasses, is painted bright yellow—a way to break from the monotony of the surrounding architecture. In addition to swings built at four different heights, the structure also includes a multifunctional platform and two hammock-like nets, providing areas for both activity and respite.

“Swings Park” will be kept in its current location through 2017. You can learn more about Design Capital 2016’s selected proposals on their website. (via designboom, Popup City)