Banc Léger, 2024. Outdoor bench, concrete, 3D printing. Photo credit: Inessa Hansch
Outdoor / Cappella Celesia
Banc Léger (light bench) is a semi-industrial concrete outdoor bench combining formwork techniques and additive 3D printing. This allows for the creation of objects using only small quantities of material. Inessa Hansch takes an artistic approach to designing outdoor furniture, seeing it as the equivalent of the human body on the scale of the city: the bench offers an entry point into the landscape, enabling people to feel at home in it. The curves of the bench are an invitation. The additive manufacturing technique enables this formal freedom. The bench was first designed for the lower square of the ‘Volcan’, Oscar Niemeyer's national stage building in Le Havre.
Inessa Hansch. Photo credit: Estelle Kulich
Inessa Hansch is a Belgian architect based in Paris, where she set up her practice in 2007. Specialising in public space projects, she uses design to respond to urban issues by creating artistic structures. Her approach - the installation of elements that help to clarify the image of places through use – is based on large-scale reflection, driven by the desire to structure space and express its meaning through design. This approach has been implemented in the context of urban development projects - benches, belvederes - to promote conviviality.