Every day, Syracuse University students express their innovation and creativity in different ways. Ryan Pierson and Sally Zheng decided to express theirs in a park bench.

Pierson and Zheng, both fourth-year industrial and interaction design majors, were selected as one of the 13 individual or group finalists for SU’s Fast Forward competition because of their project, Park Bar, a modified bench.

“People love to work outside when the weather is nice but sitting on the ground with your laptop, or on a bench with it on your lap is just not as comfortable or productive,” Pierson said in an email. “If you are looking to enjoy a lunch or coffee break outside, the same issues apply.”

As a solution, Pierson and Zheng introduced their Park Bar bench design for the SU campus in order to compensate for lack of seating on the Quad. Park Bar is designed to allow for as many seats as needed and it can be configured in many different ways. The seating units are made with sustainably harvested hardwood and a steel frame, and are located between Hinds Hall and Link Hall, Zheng said. There was a celebration on Thursday to mark the Park Bar’s installation.

“Each bench is handmade and reflects both the needs and character of the place it is meant for,” Zheng said in an email. “Park Bar is a space to be creative, share ideas or share a meal.”

Pierson and Zheng created Park Bar in the spring of 2013 when they competed in an international design competition held by Design Museum Boston called “Street Seats.” The two students were named semi-finalists and were given a budget to create a fully functional prototype for a nine-month outdoor public exhibition.

The positive feedback from the exhibit and the founder of the DMB helped motivate Pierson and Zheng to keep continuing the project, Pierson said.

The two Park Bar benches outside of Hinds Hall on the Quad are the fourth and fifth benches that Pierson and Zheng have made. Each time the two students have been slightly modifying or updating the design in order to keep improving.

The benches by Hinds are made from Hickory wood that was cut down by SU industrial design professor, Don Carr and then milled and stored by SU interior design professor Zeke Leonard, Pierson said.

Pierson and Zheng completed all of the woodworking themselves, including finishing it with natural oil meant for outdoor uses.

The metal frame was made with steel from Klein Steel Service in Syracuse and was welded by Noah Hausknecht, a recent SU sculpture graduate. The metal frame was then powder coated at BBD Coaters Inc. in downtown Syracuse, said Pierson.

“It is always very important that we use sustainable materials and processes — we use reclaimed wood and/or recycled steel whenever we can,” Zheng said in an email. “For this project in particular we wanted to make sure that every step of it was connected to Syracuse, underlining the city and school’s codependent relationship.”

The future of Pierson Zheng Designs will likely include the creation of more Park Bars, whether they are on the SU campus or in restaurants, public parks or other spaces. Future plans also include an expanded product line as well as a variety of collaborative community projects, Zheng said.

“It was a lot of hard work and we are very excited to be able to share it with the whole school,” Pierson said. “It has been a long road, but we feel this is just the beginning.”

Published on October 28, 2014 at 12:01 am

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