Unlikely Seats in Hamburg

Oliver Show’s “Street Furniture” series wraps yellow drainage pipes around public infrastructure in Hamburg, Germany. Photo by Der Spiegel via Architizer

Architect Oliver Show decided to turn some of Hamburg, Germany’s least comfortable spaces into squishy seats, lounges and sofas. Mr. Show wrapped common pieces of urban infrastructure like bridge trusses, hand rails and bike racks with bright yellow plastic drainage pipes turning once angular and unlikely elements into comfortable, low-cost, weather resistant places to sit.

Providing pedestrians an opportunity to sit increases their comfort and desire to linger in a place but I wonder how comfortable these seats are for longer than a few minutes. Would these seats only serve strong and able-bodied users? Is it difficult to climb on top of them and must you balance there? Do the pipes sway back and forth? How tightly together they pipes are bound so users (especially children) don’t fall in the spaces in between?

I look forward to testing them out myself one day!

Oliver Show’s “Street Furniture” series wraps yellow drainage pipes around public infrastructure in Hamburg, Germany. Photo by Der Spiegel via Architizer

Oliver Show’s “Street Furniture” series wraps yellow drainage pipes around public infrastructure in Hamburg, Germany. Photo by Der Spiegel via Architizer