Seat Creation And Insertion Phase 1: Schematics by susy derkins
January 2nd, 2008 11:52 PMI know that there are wonderful, almost indestructible benches made from recycled plastic. Sounds like a good idea, yes, but, at 600 dollars they are not particularly cheap and, also, I find them quite ugly. Or, if not ugly, at least too plain.
OK, OK, is a bench, you can sit on it and it works, but is not the one and only, the beautiful wrought iron Alameda bench.
That is a bench! Baroque yet elegant, equally nice when painted white, black or green, curvy, solid, comfortable, perfect.
Lennon liked them too.
And here in Mexico, they are even patriotic: the national symbol of the eagle with the serpent, the year, the name of the city, all that can get wrought into the back of the bench, without taking anything of its classy elegance.
These benches taste like ice cream and tricycles, music and kisses.
So, if we are going to implement new, comfortable forms of urban seating, we better get them to resemble the wrought iron Alameda bench.
They must be made from iron. Cheap iron. Iron that screams: lets give the city back to pedestrians, it had been taken over by cars for too long!
Junkyard iron! Transmission gears! What else?
car parts and the prototype bench
Can you imagine how many gears from old and wrecked cars are produced every year? Finest solid iron, precision machined, intrincately designed and seldom exhibited. You just need some free time and an acetylene torch.
a proper bench, no less
It is clearly inspired on the Alameda, no doubt: the armrests, the graceful back. And the trasmission tree is just the right lenght for the legs. This particular prototype has three pairs of legs, but it can be built with only two pairs, as the classic Alameda.
almost complete
Some gears are missing from the seat section, but that´s easy to fix.
classy and comfortable
My lovely assistant shows how nice is to sit on a bench like this, even if there is currently a hole on the seat section. Voila!
28 vote(s)
- anna one
- Lincøln
- JTony Loves Brains
- Jellybean of Thark
- Fonne Tayne
- Darkaardvark
- Lank
- GYØ Ben
- Tøm
- Adam
- Sui Generis
- Magpie
- Johnny Yuma
- Hemingway Kat
- help im a bear
- rongo rongo
- Sean Mahan
- Charlie Fish
- Loki
- Spidere
- niallsb: Forevolution
- Ben Whitehouse
- relet 裁判長
- Skitz Ø
- Bex.
- N Mutans
- Liz
- Libris Craft
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I so want to try one out... see what it's like to draw or paint wile sitting on one... beautiful!
I love Alameda benches.
I want to try it out by sitting on it and eating a sandwich.
¿how many have been made?
At the time of this posting we are down to one. Well, um, almost one.
But the idea is, of course, to go epic.
I really hope you can do the second task in this series in the not-too-distant future.
A fantastic fabrication! Glorious gears make a beautiful, and classy, seating apparatus. The view from one of these must be inspirational indeed.
You actually made this? How??!?!
Or you found it?
I'm blown away. Question is, could it hold Americans?
Wow, I never even considered sitting on gears.
Charlie: The prototype bench was made by one of the guys of the blacksmith workshop around the corner, using pieces from the transmission/automotive parts warehouse on the next block. The technique is plain ol´ oxygen-acetylene autogen solder.
The idea of using benches made from soldered gears and transmission trees as a viable way to implement comfortable seating in the city is all mine.
And if the talks go as expected, I will be placing some benches like this in public spaces in the not too distant future (and trying my hand at soldering too, man that´ll be fun!).
Johnny Yuma: Oh, they´d hold all kinds and shapes of people, just like regular benches. I guess some documentation on the subject would be good for the implementation stage. Not that I am thinking of exporting gear Alameda benches, either...
You commissioned it? Wasn't that expensive?
You are certainly living up to the word coined in your honour...
Oh, no, the bench is not mine! It was decided that it would be placed on the sidewalk close to the entrance to the two shops, which would mean good publicity to both. And from the prototype we are kickstarting things to get more benches made paid by church and/or municipality money.
The fact that your local church and/or municipality might be subsidizing your tasking makes this completion even better. That's just amazing.
Zow!
Wow.