Atlanta's BeltLine Benches

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  Ken K

  2 years ago

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  I think it’s a nice piece of sculptural work and a lot of work and love went into it … but I have to be honest and say that I think it is not a good OUTDOOR bench.

  - The base will catch every bit of windblown trash.

  - The wood around the brass crossbars will contract, expand, contract, expand, and split or leave ugly gaps that trap moisture and turn black.

  - The heavy beams will sag outward on their relatively small L-brackets, especially if people actually sit on the bench. This will in turn cause the ends and corners of the brass crossbars to pop up and be exposed and scratch people.

  - The exposed and protruding cap screw heads are unfriendly, and with erosion will scratch people. 

  - It’s a very “busy” design, with a million surfaces that will need to be touched up and maintained even if none of the other things go wrong. Who is going to repaint the interior of that base? Who is going to redo the popping-out brass bars? Who is going to deal with all the rusted-out cap screws? That is, it's not as maintenance friendly as an outdoor bench should be.

  I think it would be better to promote it as in indoor bench, perhaps in a museum-like setting. (But that won’t solve the problem of the sagging beams.)

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    Tim Keepers

    Ken K

    2 years ago

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    Hi Ken,

    You have some really good comments! The first prototype of the bench was in use and outside for 3 years actually. When designing it we were concerned with exactly the same things you mentioned!

    - For our prototype we painted the legs and obviously needed to touch it up every now and then but final runs are powder coated just as every other commercial steel exterior bench.

    - As for the brass and socket caps we used a product called Permalac which worked amazingly! We were turned onto it by an instillation artist who seals her large brass art sculptures with it before instillation in public parks or plazas. It was incredibly resilient and tough. With that being said production saw the socket caps get powder coated. We also inserted thin plastic separators between the socket caps and the brass washers to prevent galvanic corrosion.

    - In regards to the socket caps scratching you when seated the socket caps are all inset in a deep dato cut in the wood. The tip of the socket caps are both rounded and flush with the front edge of the bench. In doing this your legs will never come into contact with them. Furthermore the legs of the bench will hit your heels before your calf could swing all the way in to make contact.

    - For the insertion for the brass bars on top, the ends of the brass are pointed on the bottom side so when the seat is pushed together, during assembly,  the brass embeds itself into the wood. We also used a commercial grade 3M all weather wood and metal epoxy which is used on ocean going sail boats. For production runs we have a slip cut brass bar that locks all the fingers into place.

    - For the wood I would 100% have thought the same thing about the sides flipping forward as there are no pictures of the area in between the two wood halves on this post. There is actually a beam in the middle which ties the seat halves together. This beam is inline with the socket cap bolts on the front. With that being said the seat connection is as follows; The two wood halves are anchor bolted to the base from the bottom and then are bolted together through the front and the back with the socket caps bolts through the center beam. This beam is also sloped in the middle to channel rain water in-between the legs so water will not sit there forever.

    
    

    In all honesty though, your comments were dead on as far as us having the same concerns early on. I am sure as the bench sits outside for even longer we will learn more.

    
    

    Thanks Ken for the great comments!

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  Robert Wilkey

  2 years ago

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  The oak looks ebonized - did you guys use the acetic acid technique?  I have always wondered if ebonizing would actually help prevent UV degradation because the tannins have already reacted and would theoretically be less susceptible to bleaching.  I love the look of the blackened oak next to the brass and imagine it will only become more interesting with time.

  
  

  Where along the beltline is this installed?  I really want to see this prototype in person and can't wait for more to be installed.

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  • 

    Tim Keepers

    Robert Wilkey

    2 years ago

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    Hi Robert,

    We sooorrtt of ebonized the wood, but with out the dye. We used a zinc oxide mixture which reacts with the tannens in the wood to oxidize it and give it this color. In oak it turned the color to a sort of purple blue but I have heard with cypress it is a green. With that being said I like where your head's at. We have actually been talking about ebonizing the wood and then everything that is now black  would be powder coated white or be plated in a brass color. 

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      Robert Wilkey

      Tim Keepers

      2 years ago

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      Very cool.  I've never tried zinc oxide with tannins, gonna have to experiment around with that now! I thought the blueish tint was just some color distortion in the photos, now I _definitely_ have to see these in person.  Thanks for the reply!

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  Candy Simpson

  2 years ago

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  I actually love that the bench bottom reminds me of Donald Judd's work....very nice!

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  James Garrad

  2 years ago

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  Love love the seat on this bench but the base seems overengineerered and distracts from the beauty 😕

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  BioIQ Atlanta

  2 years ago

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  This bench is my spirit animal. I'd like to shake hands with its maker. I bet he has a full head of hair and a strong brow.

   

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