Banc Frais
JEAN COUVREUR design studio unveils a refreshing bench for the public space at the Lyon City Tomorrow Festival.
Banc Frais is a bench with a small water surface fed by an integrated pump system.
Made of white concrete, its porosity and inertia retain the freshness of the water. Like the roof tiles of Provence homes that are watered, this technique is perfectly natural and consumes only the water needed to moisten the bench.
Like a block cut in the mass, Banc Frais is the pure expression of the material's capacities: a volume of raw concrete, delicately dug in the center, as if the water had eroded it. From its center springs the source of a water which evaporates gradually.
While global warming could lead to a 1 to 2 degree increase in temperature by 2050, the development of city center buildings amplifies this phenomenon and contributes to the sensation of heat in public spaces .
In the past, fountains provided hygiene and freshness to village squares, in addition to collecting drinking water. They were also spaces around which people gathered.
Banc Frais aims to encourage spontaneous uses such as gatherings around the village fountain. Fresh Bench acts as an urban oasis, a fertile island.
Beyond the technical demonstration, the project aims to highlight simple and inexpensive initiatives, from small to medium scale projects.
It valorizes archaic principles and techniques often forgotten or too little exploited.
White Concrete
Dimension: 3m x 1m70
Weight: 3.5 tons
300L tank operated by a manual pump
Produced for the Festival Lyon City Demain
Manufacture: GCC
Sponsors: GCC / CNR
Photography: Matthieu Gauchet
