Anyone who takes transit is familiar with monthly passes and Faresavers.
In the spirit of these passes, which will be fading into the realm of folklore with the advent of the Compass in 2013, I present to you, the Metrobench!
Recycling everyday items into functional art is a project Stephen Shaheen, artist and resident of New York City, took on for a recent exhibit. He found meaning and purpose in the highly disposable New York City Metrocards and decided to recycle 5 000 of them into an amazingly cool, sculptural bench.
The Metrobench is not only Brilliant, Stylish, and Functional, it’s also Eco-Friendly! This is a fantastic piece of design. I love it’s fluidity and can’t wait to see what else Shaheen has to offer in the future.
Unfortunately a bench made from our existing monthly passes and faresavers would never survive the torrential rainstorms Vancouver is (in)famous for [nearly] year-round. One good downpour and instead of a bench you would find thousands of rectangular-shaped cardboard pieces disintegrated into a soggy mass of putrid pulp, lacking form or function.
Just imagine our new plastic Compass cards morphing into bright blue, rainproof bus shelters. We all know the lower mainland could definitely benefit from more bus shelters. If only I had the artistic vision, time, and tenacity to follow through with this crazy idea… Not to mention the thousands upon thousands of Compass cards needed for this creative endeavour… Calling all Vancouver artists & Translink…
thebusloop 