making our sofa construction still feel connected to the park bench itself
We covered one of the benches in Stadtpark with paper and attached some markers so that people could tag and interact with the bench/ the cover as they liked
Through this process we got some interesting insight on what people communicate when they get the opportunity to say what they want on a surface in a public space. Some people wrote political slogans, their snapchats, a sentence in their native language to mention some.
Not only people leave traces on park benches but also animals. That is why we also included some species of birds that live in the park.
Where we last left off we had concluded which patterns we would continue to work with. Based on the discussion we decided to continue with the baroque fabric and sofa-styled Husse focusing on comfort and storytelling ,and the more plain Husse with an informative text., explaining our project.
(Sketch of how the project could look in Stadtpark)
Final Hussen Designs
Sofa “baroque style” Husse
Projekt Husse
Diy Designs
Sofa “baroque style” Husse Nr1
…telling the story of the parkbench
(AI generated reference for the baroque-comfort husse)
Project Husse
…giving context
Diy Designs
…functional approach
depending on how much time we will have left
Fabric roadtrip
finding textiles fitting our baroque-comfort Husse and a plain textile that is good to print on was our main focus.
Making pattern
<- help from Annika
Website
We are currently also working on the website for the project
Getting workshop-ready
We have prepared the material needed to screen-print and will start printing on the textiles on Monday.
What do we need help with going forward?
Part of our process this week and last has been to finalise a text about our project that will be printed on one of our main Hussen.
Project description
In the project “Rethinking the Husse”, we explore how park benches can be transformed to make people feel more visible, welcome, and comfortable in public space.
Our chosen tool is the “Husse”, a removable cover that allows us to alter existing benches without damaging or permanently changing their structure. Through this intervention, we investigate how design can reshape the experience of public space.
We want to encourage people not only to use public space, but also to temporarily claim it as their own. Access to public seating was once considered a major social achievement. The public park bench was revolutionary: for the first time, ordinary people could sit in public for free and become visible participants in urban life.
With the Husse Nr1, we reflect both on the lack of comfort in contemporary public seating and on the social history of Stadtpark and the bench itself.
This project invites the people of Vienna to create their own Hussen according to their individual ideas and needs. Our sewing patterns are publicly available, allowing anyone to redesign and reinterpret their own bench. Whether adding comfort, expressing identity, or creating new meanings in public space – every intervention becomes possible.
“Focus on identity and aesthetics, not only function”
New and bolder designs
Fabric first
We want to do a deeper investigation into what we can convey through textiles. Printing on textile is a long process, so if we’re gonna try it, it has to be now.
We had some rounds of speed designing, coming up with new textile prints. We’ve decided to focus on 3 of them.
With these designs we wanted to focus more on the message and our core question: “Who owns public space?”
3 design directions
ornaments, info on the topic, provocation
Update on the bench
Collecitng the bench for the city of Vienna
Even the police was interested in our activity!
Screen printing workshop
We got a walk through of the workshop and some input on our designs by Stephanie Klaura at Textile technology in Salzgries 14.
Next steps
Finish the pattern for the bench
Get new fabric
Design patterns –> print on textile
Make people interact with our prototypes/ get feedback
