Just because you are in a museum, it does not mean you have to be uncomfortable.
The Munch museum is designed vertically so the visitors can move up and enter the collections and exhibitions at different places. This allows for breaks in between viewing the artwork. We quickly decided that we would like the benches to be comfortable, so the visitor could relax and look out at the scenery of the city, perhaps flip through a book or even nod off a bit.
Just because you are in a museum, it does not mean you should be uncomfortable. For our bench this means adding a back, and shaping the seat to the body. With this realisation the concept materialised, it is a steel frame over which a steel mesh is draped, and then in turn clad with pillows.
The benches will be used indoors at the museum, but it is still a public place with much foot traffic. This means the benches should be very sturdy. Norwegian outdoor manufacturer Vestre won the tender for the production of the benches, which was a perfect match. This would ensure a robust and sturdy completion of the elegant design. The entire bench is welded together which means there are no loose parts, or screws that can become undone over time. The benches can be left outside for 20 years, after which it can be sandblasted, galvanized and lacquered and left outside for another 20 years.
The project grows
As the main pieces of the collection took shape, the benches with and without a back, we saw how it could expand to encompass also a chair, a lounge chair and a table.
The cafe chair and table can be found in the restaurant and bar on the top floor of the museum and the cafe on the ground floor.
