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Those Benches At 8th Street Station Are So Much Cooler Than You Know

veyko

Those bent stainless steel benches at the SEPTA Blue Line 8th Street Station were made right here in Philly by a company called Veyko, who made the benches as part of a federally-funded “Art in Transit” commission. The benches, which were just profiled in the Architect’s Newspaper Blog, are every bit as hi-tech as they look, too: The benches were fabricated using 3D design & modeling programs and water jet cutting, adapted from the aerospace industry. All so you could have a cool thing to sit on whilst on your way home from Ross Dress For Less. Technology!

[Photo: Veyko.com]

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 15th, 2011 at 10:06 am.

  • Timo

    They’re also incredibly difficult to sleep on.

  • arcticsplasher

    They’re also incredibly difficult to sit on.

  • Jennie

    I think they’re silly. There’s a whole section in the middle where no one can sit. I think the money would have been better spent elsewhere.

  • troeee

    They told me people are now allowed to sit on the middle section as long as their legs could reach the floor. Amidst the 100+db train horns used in the stations, the soiled and smelly tile and the oh so oppressive lighting, I welcome the break from all the right angles.

  • kiitymaki

    I always thought the middle part was more like a table to provide relief from a heavy bag while you wait. Plus, no one in Philly ever sits that close to another person on the bench!

  • serlingrod

    agreed. design for the sake of design, which is mostly likely lost on the Market East / Gallery populous. limited functionality. benches are for sitting, not showing off.

  • Hot Mess

    Can you get bed bugs from metal?

  • BenOnTen

    ” The benches were fabricated using 3D design & modeling programs and water jet cutting, adapted from the aerospace industry.”

    …And here I thought vandals had taken a giant pair of vice grips to render a large portion of a perfectly good bench un-sitable!

    *shooting star graphic* The More You Know!

  • schmapty

    They are great! The world needs more variety and these benches brighten my day almost daily.

  • chuck63

    @serlingrod…you are correct, we should limit the use of innovative design to the following areas: Society Hill, Queen Village, Northern Liberties, Frankford Avenue (but only between Girard and Dauphin), Wash West, Rittenhouse Square, University City, the Parkway and Chestnut Hill. And I agree, let’s keep benches looking like benches! Enough already with re-imagined this and re-purposed that!

  • serlingrod

    I don’t mind pretentious design, but don’t compromise functionality in the process. who do you think these benches were designed for, exactly? they’re awkward and uncomfortable – probably to deter people from extended periods of comfort or rest. In a part of Center City that undeniably has a homeless problem, these benches come off as classist. Please, spread innovative design all over the city! Don’t limit to gentrified neighborhoods – repurpose the shit out of Nicetown and Kingsessing! But don’t forget PEOPLE as you design. This isn’t Frank-Gehry-land….

  • chuck63

    If anyone is being classist it’s the person who supposes that heightened design is lost on the patrons of the Gallery. And, not for nothin’, but homeless folks don’t pay $2 to sit in a subway station.

  • Rob N

    @chuck63 – Ok, let’s not get carried away.
    There is no reason to include any part of Frankford Ave.

  • schmapty

    Do people really think the homeless pay to get on the subway and then sleep in the station?

  • serlingrod

    There are plenty that move through trains asking for change (announcing they’re homeless). It isn’t far-fetched to think that SEPTA would want to embrace design that deters them, or anyone, from loitering..

  • schmapty

    These benches are great if you don’t like it move to the suburbs or Portland.

  • fichadelphia

    the comments on phileb make me want to move to another city or an island or another country.

  • PooSteam

    Rob N must not be hip on my arts corridor on the Kings Highway.

    Agree with Fich, people always complaining. Just enjoy it and shut your yap is what I say.

  • philatrash

    All the complainers are pretty much soulless bastards. You want the wooden, piss-stained benches back? Have at ‘em!

  • ovlovder

    ” The benches were fabricated using 3D design & modeling programs and water jet cutting, adapted from the aerospace industry.”

    3d cad/cam and waterjet cutting metal has been in general fab shop use together for at least a decade (likely much longer, but thats as long as I have been aware of it). saying “adapted from the aerospace industry” is about as relevant as saying the same about carbon fiber, like some cunning designer plucked the technology from NASA or Boeing and everyone else is in the dark scrambling to figure it out.

    Veyko on the other hand is a fine group of people doing good work. Congratulations guys.

    I remember seeing these under development in the shop almost two years ago.