A Comfortable Old Concrete Bench
I found this old bench in a lovely and peaceful little park today in a
very, very rich neighborhood. Get up close to
this thing and you can see it's pretty old. But that's ok, since it's
obviously concrete and designed to last. But it's a bench. You're
supposed to sit on it. Maybe bring your kids to the park and relax,
right? How comfortable could it possibly be? I tried it. It's not. And
look at the two
legs -- solid concrete. An elephant could sit on this thing. I wouldn't
be surprised if the legs have footings a few feet down, too. Actually, that brings up
another point -- how much you wanna bet that the bench is steel
reinforced?
Given its age, it would have to be steel reinforced. Concrete of 40 years ago did not have much tensile strength, new formulations would have that bench using less than half the material.
It looks garish now but it was a design statement during the 60s-70s. With the world changing rapidly, heavy concrete or stone structures provided a solid "anchor" to hold on to. They also resisted vandalism.
What's great about concrete is that this bench can be recycled and blended with new materials and formed into a new bench with a much more pleasing design.
Posted by Wayne on November 26, 2007 at 10:15 PM JST #
Thanks, Wayne. That's a great explanation. :) Very interesting. This bench hooked me big time.
Posted by Jim Grisanzio on November 26, 2007 at 10:44 PM JST #
we make this concrete bench in China, many types, if you have interested in it, please contact me.
Posted by keli zhao on June 25, 2008 at 08:08 PM JST #