BenchMarks is a series of three sculptural benches created for Spuiplein, The Hague, through innovative free-form bending techniques.
Entirely designed and fabricated in Marseille, each bench is crafted in stainless steel, merging advanced fabrication with a contemporary vision of urban furniture. Beyond their function as seating, the benches act as site-specific sculptures, each one engaging in dialogue with a neighbouring building.
- Model A (BMA) reflects the nearby public library, reimagined as a multifunctional bench — part open-air reading desk, part communal table.
- Model B (BMB) echoes Richard Meier’s City Hall, its continuous loop embodying fluid interaction and collective connection.
- Model C (BMC) takes inspiration from OMA’s Danstheater, its dynamic form interpolating body postures into a frozen choreography of movement.
Together, the three benches transform the public square into a landscape of encounter, interaction, and architectural resonance.
About the design :
After the first competition phase, a procedural workflow was developed in collaboration with Tom Pawlofsky (ETH Zurich). The objective was to bridge organic form-finding with technical constraints in the design of the benches. The workflow combined Grasshopper for Rhino 3D with Python scripting, allowing for controlled variation and direct translation into fabrication data.
A key challenge was the interface with the Swiss company responsible for pipe bending. The tool enabled the conversion of XYZ axis coordinates into the machine’s required format — defined by length, radius, and angle.
This workflow was essential to the project, extending from generative design to machine programming. Each bench in the BM.ABC series consists of approximately 100 stainless-steel pipes, each up to 3 meters long, resulting in a total of 300 unique elements and nearly 900 meters of 31.7 mm diameter material.