SEATING BENCH
Blackwood, powder-coated steel. Collins Place office tower for IM Pei.
The first refurbishment of Collins place saw the arch-modernist architectural firm of I M Pei install a series of post-modern affectations such as carved marble columns based on draped fabric. None the less, the plan maintained classic ‘modern’ sight lines, which controlled the placement of furniture items and which called for a seating bench to be designed on a prescribed arch. In the seating bench, the desks and the static directory, certain of Lueckenhausen’s signature zoomorphic elements, such as the lip and foot details were abstracted by him to bridge the gap between his personal iconography, and the architect’s desire for understatement.
