SPLIT BENCH
A bench / stool / learning tool
Summer 2023
Design Competition, 3rd Place
Hosted by: Engage Design Build, TDSB
In partnership with: Daniel Wong
Design Competition, 3rd Place
Hosted by: Engage Design Build, TDSB
In partnership with: Daniel Wong
Split Bench is our submission for a competition hosted by Engage Design Build, led by Michael Piper and Otto O. Ojo. The brief was to design a simple bench for TDSB summer school workshop students to fabricate, that would live in front of select storefronts in Little Jamaica.
Designed to be easy to build and composed of multiple individual stools, the bench is meant to be as inclusive as possible. Instead of one class working on a singular bench, where not everyone gets to participate in the entirety of the build process, Split Bench supports equitable access to students by letting them work in smaller groups, before coming together as a class to assemble a bench.
Store usage was also considered in the design, sidewalks in Little Jamaica are not exceptionally wide, and many stores required a bench that allowed for socialization. The design solution of allowing the bench to split apart as multiple stools created that much needed flexibility. A singular central beam ties the stools together for convenient transport.
Unfortunately, TDSB did not host the summer courses, so the bench was instead built by yours truly. However, students got the opportunity to visit the faculty on a field trip, and were able to assemble miniature, laser-cut versions of the bench with our guidance.
Split Bench now lives somewhere around the sidewalks of Little Jamaica.
Designed to be easy to build and composed of multiple individual stools, the bench is meant to be as inclusive as possible. Instead of one class working on a singular bench, where not everyone gets to participate in the entirety of the build process, Split Bench supports equitable access to students by letting them work in smaller groups, before coming together as a class to assemble a bench.
Store usage was also considered in the design, sidewalks in Little Jamaica are not exceptionally wide, and many stores required a bench that allowed for socialization. The design solution of allowing the bench to split apart as multiple stools created that much needed flexibility. A singular central beam ties the stools together for convenient transport.
Unfortunately, TDSB did not host the summer courses, so the bench was instead built by yours truly. However, students got the opportunity to visit the faculty on a field trip, and were able to assemble miniature, laser-cut versions of the bench with our guidance.
Split Bench now lives somewhere around the sidewalks of Little Jamaica.
A miniature version was laser cut for TDSB students to assemble during their field trip to the Daniels Faculty.
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