Please Be Seated is a large-scale installation made of three concentric rings of wave-like forms made from scaffolding planks. Created by British designer Paul Cocksedge, the communal bench has been built in Broadgate for the London Design Festival.
The giant installation fuses innovation and technology and responds to the changing rhythm of the community: its design features curves for people to sit on and walk under, further enhancing London’s largest pedestrianized neighborhood. The work is made from scaffolding planks, and Cocksedge has collaborated with Essex-based high-end interiors company White &White to re-imagine and re-use the building wood.
“Every single aspect of the installation is tailored to its environment as well as the function it serves,” says Cocksedge. “The curves raise up to create backrests and places to sit, as well as space for people to walk under, or pause and find some shade. It walks the line between a craft object and a design solution. It occupies the square without blocking it.”
The more people interact with Please Be Seated, the less it will seem to be a large-scale sculpture and the more it will feel to be a free-flowing heartbeat of the city, giving shade and rest and breath to pedestrians at LDF.
Please Be Seated is one of many public installations that have been created across the city as part of the 2019 London Design Festival, which runs from 14 to 22 September. The installation will be on view until October 11, 2019.