Designed to focus on humans in public waiting areas, places where people experience time, the Surf Bench by German designer Kim Andre Lange is an interactive bench. Made from movable wooden and steel elements that mimic the flow of kinetic waves, the Surf Bench teaches its users about physics. Know more about it on FURNITURE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY (FDT).
Lange observed waiting rooms and realised that a strong visible emotion of nervosity sticks out within these rooms. According to her, time is strongly experienced in such places where there is always a lack of information on the duration of waiting time or the missing of given activities and entertainment, thereby allowing time to pass slowly. “In our performance-society, the feeling of being watched by others while being on stand-by is often the reason why we see people in waiting areas chain-smoking, scrolling purposeless through their phones, or non-stop cleaning their glasses. All observed activities are executed by our hands, our tools for being productive. Sitting around watching people or meditating is not considered a productive benefit for our society. But there are some non-manual occupations highly valued by our society,” she adds. “Like social interaction, education or the discovery of something new. By analyzing present waiting areas one object is found in most of them: the waiting bench.”
Benches in waiting rooms are often abused or violated by users. The Surf Bench is, thus, an object without any characteristics that helps one to get through that nervous time in the waiting zone. The Surf Bench makes users curious to explore its function by keeping users busy and teaching them physics by using their hands.
Appearing like a spinal cord, the Surf Bench is made of wood and steel elements that modify shape when interacted. The bench mimics the flow of kinetic waves when someone sits down on it, where the weight of the user sends a ripple effect throughout the length of the bench. The kinetic wave, thus, keeps users’ minds occupied and also teaches them the physics behind it.
Available in dimensions 240cm X 45cm X 45cm.
Image credit: Kim Andre Lange
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