‘Please Sit Here’: Designers dream up innovative socially distanced seating
With social distancing measures in effect across the UAE, designers have responded to the “new normal” with three innovative seating arrangements now on show at Dubai Design Week, which is set to run until Nov. 14. The American Hardwood Export Council invited Emirati designers Aljoud Lootah, Khalid Shafar and Hamad Khoory to design a hardwood bench for outdoor use during the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the “Please Sit Here” initiative.
“Social distancing has begun to dominate the way we live and the decisions we make,” said Roderick Wiles, AHEC regional director for
Africa, the Middle East, India and Oceania. Designed in keeping with current 2-meter distance regulations, the seats “negate the need for warning signs and allow people to sit in a relaxed way,” said Wiles. “However, the design of the bench will also allow for conversion to accommodate more people, closer together when the time comes for social distancing regulations to be relaxed.” Lootah’s minimalist and experimental approach emphasizes modern interpretations of Emirati culture. Selecting red oak for its color, texture and grain, Lootah noted that “Jalees” is designed to recognize the primitive characteristics of outdoor benches found around the UAE in every
Emirati home. This seating design pays tribute to its minimal structure and attributes. Her design features circular seats with metal inserts that slide along the length of the bench to create social distancing when needed between strangers and to allow for family to sit together at the same time.
Warm, modern regionalism defines Khoory’s practice and in embracing wood as a natural material, he left his bench untreated. “Inspired by the traditional majlis with its inherent values of humility, equality and community, the bench is an exploration of connection and separation,” he explained. “Employing poplar wood in cuboid modular units of a seat, tree, planter and sanitization area, the modules engage with a linear, comb-like maple wood base — a plug-and-play approach of slipping into and out of the comb, with many possible configurations.”
Meanwhile, the energy and “supercharged aesthetics” of the 1980s inspired “POP UP,” Shafar’s timber smart-seating bench can be controlled through a bespoke app. “The 1980s’ neon linear lights, synth wave music, catchy pop colors and retro cyber-technology inspired the design, conveying the optimism and strength we need to overcome the pandemic,” he said.