The Junction - Public Art Commision

Bins and Benches
Visitors to the Junction arrive at the Piazza, the new public square for Cambridge at the centre of the Cambridge Leisure development. At first it seems like any other normal public square. Six or seven park benches are installed at various locations in the space, and close by, the same number of bins are positioned to collect rubbish.

But this street furniture is very different. Greyworld has injected each bench and bin with a magic serum of life - each element is able to roam free in the Piazza area. The benches and bins move and flock, drifting across the space, frolicking amongst the other species that inhabit their world, exploring their Piazza.

The benches love to be sat on - it makes them particularly happy in fact, and they often take up position in new spaces to make themselves more attractive to potential human sitters. Sometimes, when it rains, they move themselves to drier, shadier areas of the square. To attract potential human sitting folk, they like to form patterns - the benches moving in to shapes in the centre of the piazza.

The bins are also free to roam the piazza, but they are a little more solitary, preferring their own company, and a little quiet space to occupy. It's a tough life being a bin, and they like to contemplate their humble lot on their own.

There's one other thing to note about this free spirited furniture. When the mood takes them, perhaps when the weather is fine, or most of the bench clan are being sat on, they like to burst in to song. Sometimes, small clusters gather together and sing a tight six-part harmony, and occasionally, though much more rarely due to their shyness, the bins join in with their sweet soprano voices.

Each bench drifts slowly around the square, no faster than a strolling human, and is equipped with sensors that detect the presence of objects in its immediate vicinity, coming to a complete halt when any object is closer than two metres.

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