BENCH BED (Here B&B)

Here B & B (Here Bench & Bed) Question: How can those who have support those who have less? Answer: A bench & Bed towards a more caring society

Here B & B, as the name suggests, is a play on the popular online platform Air BnB, whereby registered users can book online accommodation in faraway locations. Here B & B, is a piece of macro-architecture. A bench and a bed. The Bench carries advertising. The revenue from advertising finances the bench. The bench turns into emergency shelter at night and reverts back to a Bench during the day.

It was designed as a response to an open call for the 2021 Zurich Design Biennale. Under the theme CLASH, the Biennale sought to consolidate its positioning as a platform for experimental and visionary design projects from all design disciplines in which different values, traditions or expectations clash. Where Energy is created through friction: the confrontation with supposedly contradictory techniques, methods, materials and themes nourishes the creative process.

Thus the bench combines an advertising board with a shelter, poverty with privilege. Here B&B is not a solution to homelessness, more a vehicle for discussion about this very pressing urban phenomenon. Here B&B invites change and dialogue.

Exhibited at Design Biennale Zürich 2021, and the Open Call organised by the KornhausForum in Bern, Switzerland.

September 2021