Many things shape the face of a city: buildings, bridges, parks, sculptures... even benches! That's right, this simple form of public furniture can also add more emotion to a particular site.
Bored Panda created this list of unusual bench designs to illustrate that creativity can transform busy streets into cozy communal living rooms. Whether you're grabbing a quick lunch, or waiting for your date, these benches will definitely brighten your day!
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Park In Vöcklabruck, Austria
Hope the water level doesn't permenantly rise lol. Awesome though I'd sit my derriere there!
That's amazing. The view at duck eye level would be beautiful. Just not a good idea to visit on a windy day.
I wanna be the one throwing big a*s rocks from the lakeside to land close to the edge of the "bench"
Bench In Kiev, Ukraine
please mister "shodawouda", make us a new one just like you said. hello from Kiev
Load More Replies...and then you sit down and the hands grab you and pull you down under the concrete to become a statue somewhere else.
Looks like someone was trying to use something to pull themselves out of the wet cement before it dried and didn't make it.
Paprocany Lake Shore Redevelopment
i bet it's fun to sit and watch people try to get back out of it
I've been there! POLSKA! Huge warning, you have to balance your body and spread it out when you sit, otherwise your butt will literally touch the water beneath the net XD I know, and so do my cousins XD
Rotating Bench Keeps The Seat Dry After Rain
Now you can remove a HOBO from a bench, without even touching him ... BRILLIANT !
Water will still reach the bottom because of surface tension. Unless you use "NeverWet" spray, but that defeats the purpose of this design.
The Blue Carpet In Newcastle, England
I sat on one like this at a museum, then was told it was a work of art not a bench. Had to get off... lol
Unfortunately the blue carpet ended up being a public art nightmare. All of the blue dye washed out and the piece generally looks a mess.
Cool. Make the black rectangle a flower bed... any excuse for more flowers in a city.
Creative Park Bench, Massachusetts
yes. you can charge your phone here or get some lighting in the evening. this power cord you see in the last pic is attached to the foundation where battery pack is.
Load More Replies...If's there one thing i've learned it's the BUGS LIKE LIGHTS!
Bench By Alleswirdgut Architektur, Luxembourg
Whale Tail Bench
I sit on that bench every year when I go to Santa Barbara. Don't sit in the middle.
Typewriter Bench
Be even more interesting if the keys were actually connected to a print output (or a screen).
Bench Out Of Pencils In Kiev, Ukraine
That's too cute. I'm picturing that in a playground at a preschool or daycare.
Off-ground, Copenhagen, Denmark
"I'll just sit down for ten minutes,my shopping bags are... *17 hours later* WHA...Whaa...What the f**k where am I, who am I!?
Great use of things that can be re-purposed into something functional!!! And just one solution for less waste!
This would never happen in Canada. I think it's actually illegal to sleep in public and cities and establishments try to make seating only comfortable enough to be tolerated for a short time. Even some benches have been removed.
The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe Book Bench, London
How would a city look if all the benches were fairytale-like as this one? <3
They could dedicate each bench to a writer from that city! Education, comfort and decorative
Load More Replies...There were 50 in total, scattered around London for a while. Then they were auctioned for charity. http://www.booksabouttown.org.uk/
Custom Curve Seats, Cadigal Green, University Of Sydney, Australia
Seats In The Shape Of A Tulip By Tulpi Design
No more uncomfortable than most ordinary park benches.
Load More Replies...I love making those eye sore objects into a more colorful and appealing sight. Subtle changes to things that are observed routinely in our lives become enhancing to our environment, rather than the otherwise mundane and accepted for what they are everyday sights.
I wonder if it 's good for old people, who need benches and seats the most.
Musical Bench
It would be someone's (misfor)tune if I tried to play those keys :P
El Poeta Bench By Alfredo Häberli
Bus Stop Bench
I would climb to the first ''hole'' of the letter B! Would probably miss the bus tho... ;-)
i would be up top in the b. . . . or sliding on the s. yep, i just missed the bus as well
Load More Replies...This is equally amazing and an impractical excessive use of wood, but non the less LOVE IT!
Was wondering if this one would make the list. It's in Baltimore and is even more impressive in real life.
Thanks! for telling the place. Why people always upload pictures without telling where?!
Load More Replies...Swinging Bench By Neulhae Cho
That looks so fun! It gives you an excuse to be a kid again... even for a minute.
888 Brannan Office Building In San Francisco
Actually, they look made from soft material, look at the picture well, the lady that fold her legs on the top.
Load More Replies...Creative Bench
Kansas City Public Library Stairs
There not stairs either and you are probably meant to sit on them.
Load More Replies...Soft Bench By Lucile Soufflet
Is it actually soft or just shaped on one side? It looks shaped to me. Otherwise, the lady wouldn't be able to just sit like the image depicts. I think the title is just misleading.
Load More Replies...This gives you the perfect excuse to sleep like a homeless...looks very confortable...
Not soft, just shaped. Otherwise she would have caused it to go down in the top photo, and in the bottom photo the person's whole body would be equally sunk into the bench.
I'd freak the first time sitting on this. I'd expect a hard surface like every other bench.
not in the USA. they will not do this for the public to avoid homeless people to sleep on them.
Which is a pity, coz they look so comfy! I wonder if there's also a risk of objects falling off a bench when someone else sits on it
Load More Replies...Glassconcrete Bench By Zoltan Bencze & Szovetseg'39, Pecs, Hungary
Lungo Mare Bench
Look closely...there are drain holes in each depression.
Load More Replies...Double Doily, New York, Ny
Book Bench In Paris
Benches With Big Hats, Marseille, France
:''''''''''''D So funny but perfect for some shadow on the hot days!
The State Of The Pulse At Rest, International Garden Show Hamburg
Benches In Exhibition At The Sheldon Art Gallery in St. Louis, Missouri
I'd probably get in trouble but I'd have to jump my bike off one.
I hope to see the result of your jump here on bored panda!
Load More Replies...This is clearly the Memorial at the Pentagon. If you look in the background you can see names inscribed on the benches. You can also see the tokens left on and around the benches as people do at a memorial. This is a PICTURE that was used in an exhibition at Sheldon Art Gallery in St. Louis, Missouri. The exhibition featured contemporary landscape architecture. It was presented through photographs and drawings, and was held in 2011 .
These are the pentagon benches. There is no place at the Sheldon that would be capable of exhibiting benches like that.
Tree Bench Of Tree Bench, Seattle, Usa
Robot Bench In Enschede, Netherlands
Plot twist: It's not a bench! It's just a robot resting on the ground! ;-)
Transformers are supposed to be robots in disguise... maybe he's just not very good at hiding.
Creative Benches In New York
it remembers the bench/door in a brasilian sitcon called Castelo Rá tim bum, the Nino's room has a door whom is a bench too.
Load More Replies...Letter Bench, Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, England
I wish i could have seen all the words I'd have liked to have read the whole thing
...I would like you to know what a wonderful job all the members of staff on that ward are doing, they were kind, polite and caring, no job was too much for them to make my stay on the ward as comfortable as possible.
Load More Replies...Funny City Bench, Bangkok
"Bruh like I didn't ask for your huge white teeth to be here like wtf"
Creative Bench
I'm glad he isn't painted to look like a person too. It'd freak out a few drunks lol.
After a few drinks it wouldn't matter he's not painted, I'd freak out anyway ;)
Load More Replies...Bench On Acid
We end up as Adults... But every once in a while.. We can slide back into being a Child.
Benches In Riva Promenade Of Croatian City Split
Garabatos, Series Of Benches By Pablo Reinoso
like a child won a scalextrix competition and got to design one inanimate object, no holes barred!
Diy Urban Bench
Lightwave, A Sculptural Bench In Ithaca, NY
When dont have a jacket but u find a random bench that gives you heat...... sweet relief
Creative Public Bench
Circular Bench Bruxelles
The Wave In Chicago, IL
Buttmunches, San Francisco Ferry Plaza, CA
Look at the difference between the first bench, standing there all miserable and gray. Αnd the little monster ones, standing out all happy and colourful!!! ;-)
There crochet bench cozies I was screwing around on Google one day and saw them under weird crochet. I love thesse
Sail Benches, Vercheres, Canada
Again, lovely as they are seems like an excessive use of precious trees!
row row row your boat gentle down the grass merely merely merely lifes a but a dream.
Mountain Inspired Benches
The Tree Bench In The Netherlands
this is beautiful, the wraps are there allowing the tree to grow and expand over years without suffocation or damage to such a majestic life force!
Modern Bamboo Bench In New York
Benches In Jean Baptiste Lebas Park, Lille, France
Light Bench In Barcelona
Please tell me I'm not the only one that for some reason can only focus on the fries
Space Inbetween By Worapong Manupipatpong
Swan Bench In Amsterdam
Very rustic and almost antique looking, adds to the beauty of what the want to be an aged, weathered piece of art.
Social Bench
This can be really nice for a family that has someoene in a wheel chair and the person in the wheelchair wants to sit between both of them
Unire/Unite In Rome, Italy
Bench Go Round, San Francisco
This looks fun until you get an a*****e sitting next to you that wants the bench to stay put
Swirling Bench
Nest Bench
Piano Bench In Andrassy Ave, Budapest
while I've sat on this bench personally, and I agree that it is nice, that it's not the same as all the others, but really it's just a regular bench that was painted when the museum moved there. Not particularly creative.
Concrete Bench At New York Botanical Garden, Bronx
Anyone know who designed this? I have the same exact bench. johnnynono(at)gmail(dot)com
Unique Public Bench
you sit down and tell it where to go and it walks off and gives you a ride
Sustainable Wooden Bench In United Kingdom
Onsite Benches By Sebastien Wierinck, Berlin, Germany And Paris, France
Claude Ponti Bench, Nantes, France
Steora - Solar Smart Bench With Phone Charger And Internet
Flexible Seating By Izabela Bołoz, Gdynia, Poland
What happens when you buy a bunch of shelves, tables and benches from IKEA and you have no clue how to assemble them
Bench In London
Portable Bench In London
Montenegro - City Kotor
Walking Down The Street In Seoul - South Korea
National Taiwan University Hospital Station,taipei,taiwan
The Wanderest - A Seat That Attaches To Existing Circular Or Octagonal Lamp Posts
This reminds me of the seats in some of our bus stops. They have been designed to be uncomfortable, so that homeless people don't sleep on them.
Debrecen
X- Shaped Loungers In Times Square, Nyc
Water Bench Collects And Stores Rainwater
Bench Of Plates By Al_a
Creative Wood Benches
Klaipeda
Beer Bottle Bench, Qingdao, China
Salt Lake City, Utah Bench Created By Richard Johnston
Modified Social Benches In Ny
On A Lap - Amersfoort, The Netherlands (2003 Henk Visch)
London Bench
Umm... These seem downright painful if you miss the "seat". Doesn't look like very inspired design to me.
That sort of design is for preventing people from laying on the bench, much the same as the "anti-homeless" spikes some property owners put in their doorways. Is it beautiful? Only in the manner of a well-swung nightstick or a perfectly polished jackboot.
That last bit seems like a perfectly accurate description
Load More Replies...Red Rock Bench, Calgary Canada
Love Bench, Moldova Chisinau
Bicycle Bench - Dublin (ireland)
Shark Girl Bench, Canalside, New York
The Sitting Stone, Šiauliai, Lithuania
"V" Shaped Bench In Belgium
It's part of the "Social Bench" series, a study related to the behaviour at the urban space.. I don't particularly like the second one (I also was like WTF), but it's interesting to know why! :) http://www.jeppehein.net/pages/project_id.php?path=works&id=102
Load More Replies...Cool Bench In Salt Lake City, Usa By The Artist Richard Johnston
Corniche Beach, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Wellington Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I love weird, but for some reason the simplicity of this is probably my fav! Like sitting at the kitchen table, ready for a good visit!
These benches are really cool, I especially like the 'walking thru water' ones! What happens if the water level rises howerver?
I saw a picture and video of a bench more than 10 years ago that I have never been able to find anything on since. I think it was in New York and had a cantilever beam that ran under the road. When someone sat on the bench a statue or sculpture on the other side of the road would stand up. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
These benches are really cool, I especially like the 'walking thru water' ones! What happens if the water level rises howerver?
I saw a picture and video of a bench more than 10 years ago that I have never been able to find anything on since. I think it was in New York and had a cantilever beam that ran under the road. When someone sat on the bench a statue or sculpture on the other side of the road would stand up. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
