This transformable bench was designed by Spring Advertising as an awareness campaign for RainCity Housing in Vancouver as a way to bring attention to the social issue of homelessness. The number of homeless is rising dramatically across several cities in Canada and this company tried to make a difference by simply customising park benches into improvised shelters. They took upon the initiative to focus on the homeless since they are often forgotten or ignored by the society. Sleeping outside can be particularly difficult with the harsh and varying weather of Canada, whether it is with summer dense humidity and rain or strong winds and snowfalls in winter. Despite being different resources available for them, such as shelter homes, not everyone feels comfortable or have the opportunity to take advantage of these tools.

 

Several public benches have been transformed with a folding flap allowing for people to sit down during the day or to sleep at night covered when the flap is unfolded over them. There is bold text on both flaps. The first one has “Find shelter here” while the second one has the location of the bench or shelter written on it. The mechanism is simple to use as the flap has a handle on the front and two triangular brackets that keep both surfaces at a 90-degree. The idea of this bench started a while ago but it only gained attention when cities such as Montreal started implementing the use of metal spikes at specific sites to prevent loitering, sitting or sleeping. (Vancouver's Thoughtful RainCity Homeless Benches Puts London's Anti-Homeless Spikes To Shame, Lowenstein)

 

I believe that this simple idea is a great way for the public to witness the value and needs of homeless people. It’s important to see them as human beings that deserve to be treated with respect and dignity as well. Most often, there are more projects that are put into place to push away or ignore homeless people. In this case, the bench initiative is definitely not resolving homelessness as these few shelters only seem to be temporary but also as it is in not really helping people leave the streets. On the contrary, I believe they are using these benches to make this issue more visible so that it could at least spark a conversation on how we could find different solutions on reducing homelessness and reintegrating them in society. I think their choice of keeping it minimalist, black and white, and with little text emphasizes the issue in a way that is raw and real. If they have chosen to add graphics or colors, it could have maybe been perceived as an embellishment of the social issue of homelessness. It definitely caught my attention and I think there is potential for more projects like these to take place in our society.