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Used chairs are taken from the trash and are being transformed into public property by spraying the words “public chair” on them.
That way they get a new and recycled function. The citizens of the cities are being animated to reconquer the streets and sidewalks.
“public chairs” are offering a spot of calmness as well as a spot of communication. They belong to every one, are public property. Thus the chairs can be reorganised, grouped or taken to other locations if necessary – an attribute that is often missed at, for example, fixed park benches.
It is the basic concept to spray the chairs right at the habitat and put them back from the sidewalk to the walls. That way the chairs will be recycled and again take part in urban life.
In addition several chairs were placed at Columbus Cirlce and Union Square in New York City during the opening day of the icff (international contemporary furniture fair, New York City).

An exceptional tension lies in the fact, that all these chairs have been originally designed for private and interior purposes. Now they are put into a new context, the public space, they weren’t designed for. Remarkably they do work in public as well as in private. 

Regardless of the different designs of form and colour it seems that the “public chairs” work independently from their design. The barrier of “good taste” appears to be totally different compared to the barrier people applying for their private homes. This might be due to the fundamentally bigger diversity of public space over private space.
Probably it’s simply the joy to find a piece of private space –which means security- inside the public reserve that results into an immense popularity of the “public chair” project.

In public space the traditional function of a chair –the sitting ability- is still the main focus, while in private space the design (excluding the ergonomic design) plays a decisive part for choosing interior.

Especially this study opposes the design of many public spaces and the public furniture designed for them by architects and urban planners. For them it seems the public benches
first serve the aesthetical appearance of rendered computer models. What might look nice and beautifully geometrical from bird view at a model often proves unfunctional for people that actually want to use the furniture for sitting, relaxing and communicating.
To maintain this planned aesthetic for years public furniture has to be safe of vandalism (bulky, screwed, fixed, concrete) and to avoid “undesireables” most benches have subtle design elements what makes it unable sleep. (armrests in the middle, benches in waveform)

A positive example of public furnishing is he sculpture garden of the MONA in NYC. Here you have loose chairs that can be rearranged and regrouped if necessary. (The MOMA however is not a real public space since it is located on private property and vandalism hasn’t to be dreaded).
The simplicity of spraying old chairs using a template allows cheap and fast duplicating in almost unlimited numbers.

“public chairs help to revitalize and –occupy the streets and plazas. Cheap costs make protecting arrangements against theft and vandalism unnecessary.

More than 250 chairs have been sprayed during the project
Spring 2005, New York City.


„public chair” is a project by Matthias Ries, 2005
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