Holme family bench
A2 product design, Christ's Hospital, 2009
A2 product design, Christ's Hospital, 2009
Since an early age architecture has been my first port of call for influence and inspiration. Around this time the Beijing 2008 Olympics had recently passed, and I was still entranced by the national Olympic stadium built for the occasion. I was constantly trying to find out more information about the building and I watched all of the documentaries I could find on it at the time. And to this date it is still one of my favorite buildings in the world, even though I have not had a chance to visit yet. After sketching through and refining a handful of ideas I focused on one section of the building, flattened and added to it, to make it my own. The two mirrored back rests are the focal point and aesthetic homage to the stadium.
The 'Holme family bench' named after my Product Design teacher who was more than a design mentor for me.
As Christ's Hospital is a boarding school, Mr.Holme like a lot of the other teachers, had seen me grow up during my time there. And after seven years I wanted to make something he and his family could enjoy for several years
on site.
As Christ's Hospital is a boarding school, Mr.Holme like a lot of the other teachers, had seen me grow up during my time there. And after seven years I wanted to make something he and his family could enjoy for several years
on site.
The 1:10 scale model of the bench: 30cm long, 11cm tall and 12cm deep, made out of balsa wood.
The back rests are 3mm black Acrylic laser cut, dimension: 13cm long 4.5cm tall
The back rests are 3mm black Acrylic laser cut, dimension: 13cm long 4.5cm tall
The actual bench was made out of Teak using predominately through mortise and tennon joints. Apart from the horizontal beams attached to the back rests and connecting the three vertical sections together. Large dowel joints were used here. In the end there were five slats, the central one being pine as we were unable to get the same Teak.
The back rests, 1300mm long, 450mm high, 50mm deep, made out of 1mm thick rectangualr tubular steel. M.I.G welded together using Argon gas.
Once all excess weld had been angle grinded down and every face degreased thoroughly, two coats of red oxide prima were applied. The counter sunk screw wholes you see above were drilled before the steel bar was welded to make the frame for the back rests.
The red oxide prima would be replaced by a baby blue color chosen by my clients, the Holme fam
At this moment in time I do not have any more images of the bench as I do believe Christ's Hospital still have the folder work and therefore images of the finished article. There were images taken, however they are on a hard drive that I am unable to access at this point in time. When I am able to find these images or revisit and take my own, I will update the project.
