charlie davidson: sunniside public realm

views of ‘sunniside public realm’ in the streets in sunderland.

british designer charlie davidson has completed a public seating design – a project which he won the commission for through sunniside partnership – used as a means of revitalizing sunniside, sunderland in the uk.

the project brought together several artists and designers including bill fontana, SDNA and KAPOK to re-invent the area through sound, motion, video, sculpture and interactive light installations.

from inception davidson’s concept was centered around the notion of turning public furniture into a more interactive element that feels alive and as if it were free to move about rather than fixed in place. the stools, which act almost as a way-finding system, wind down the town’s st. thomas street to direct the public from the popular shopping area to sunniside park.

the stone-like sculptures are constructed from jesmonite, a polymer based concrete cast with colored quartz, marble aggregates and mica, intended to add a reflective quality to the stools. at night, colorful LED lights illuminate the interior shell and work in conjunction with other installations and soundscapes in the park. 

the stools are illuminated by colored LED lights

view of the installation

the surface of each stool is acid etched and jet washed before the jesmonite has completely cured, revealing the texture and colors of the aggregates

the finished form was cast by professional mould maker bamber hawes of BSP ltd.  

this original sketch includes a scribbled note; ‘dynamic shapes flying through the city following a flight plan’.

prototyping allowed the team to restructure weaknesses in the original design

the casting mould and stool

drawings showcase the sculptural stools from all angles