Three American hardwood timber benches from three prominent Emirati designers showed an innovative way to encourage socially distancing at the Dubai Design Week this November.
The American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) invited designers Aljoud Lootah, Khalid Shafar and Hamad Khoory to each design and develop a hardwood bench for outdoor use in a public space that would help keep users safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. The bench needed to be designed to ensure a separation of at least two metres, allowing for people to sit in a relaxed way.
The three designers of the Please Sit Here benches were offered a choice of two American hardwood species, hard maple and red oak, thermally-modified to imporove durability and stability outdoors.
Aljoud Lootah used thermally-modified American red oak for her design, known as Jalees, the Arabic for “being seated securely in place” (adjective) or “table companion” (noun). Khalid Shafar went with thermally-modified American hard maple with American red oak detailing for his 80s-inspired design, Pop up, and Hamad Khoory used thermally-modified American hard maple for his Wahda Bench, inspired by traditional majlis.
“It is a delight to see the different approaches that all three designers took with this topical brief,” said AHEC regional director Roderick Wiles.
“Aljoud, Hamad and Khalid clearly enjoyed this challenge and their designs are innovative, playful, practical and beautiful. The attention to detail on the benches is high and the craftsmanship excellent, which serves to highlight the beauty of the thermally-modified American maple and red oak used.”
Here, the designers explain their designs in their own words:
Jalees by Aljoud Lootah
The Jalees bench.
Designed to recognize the primitive characteristics of outdoor benches found around the UAE and in every Emirati home, this seating design pays tribute to its minimal structure and attributes. The essential vertical and horizontal red oak members have inspired the minimalist design of this outdoor bench creating an appealing modern interpretation. Taking into consideration the post-COVID social distancing requirements, this bench creates a flexible seating system for all users. Contrasting the horizontal octagonal thermally-modified American red oak members are circular seats with metal inserts that slide along the length of the bench to create social distancing when needed between strangers and to bring family together at the same time. Additional seats could be added or removed from the bench according to the requirements of the user. Contrasting the natural hardwood is a playful pop of colour – yellow – that is minimally added on the interior of the bench both for visual aesthetic and structural purposes, along with three metal arches to stop the seats from moving further along the bench.
Pop Up by Khalid Shafar
The Pop Up bench.
From the launch of the first space shuttle and the release of the first IBM computers to the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of the Cold War, the ‘80s offered hope to humanity to once again achieve the impossible and for people to chase their wildest dreams. The energy and passion expressed in their supercharged aesthetics still reflect the 1980s in the current decade. Neon linear lights, ad-boards, the energy in the era’s synth wave music, catchy pop colours in the fashion industry and the retro cyber-techno theme all served to inspire the design of the POP UP smart outdoor bench to portray the ‘80s energy and to convey the optimism and strength that we need to overcome the current COVID-19 pandemic with the hope for a brighter and stronger future.
Wahda Bench by Hamad Khoory
The Wahda Bench.
Inspired by the traditional majlis with its inherent values of humility, equality and community, the Wahda bench is an exploration of connection and separation. Employing thermally-modified hard maple in cuboid modular units of seat, tree, planter and sanitization, the modules engage with a linear comb-like thermally-modified maple base, a plug-and-play approach of slipping into and out of the comb, with many possible configurations. The bench is thus an expression of community and disunity, with the separated seat modules slipping out of the main bench, and then slipping back when the social distancing measures of the COVID-19 pandemic are no longer required, creating the final bench form.
Find out more about American hardwood here.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
