New benches add unique style twist to Stansfeld woodland
Friday 19th July 2019
Two beautiful new bespoke benches, designed by Rycotewood Furniture students, have arrived at Stansfeld Park, ready to be placed in our woodland for everyone to enjoy. The hexagonal bench (see back of photo) will wrap around one of the trees and provide a comfortable seat to enjoy shade from the sun, while the curved one (foreground) will be placed to give the best view of our two main ponds.
Earlier this year we commissioned first-year degree students at Rycotewood Furniture Oxford (part of Oxford City College) to design benches for our new site. The students were briefed to create a bench inspired by ecology, a science eureka moment or something to do with the history of the Stansfeld site. The design had to take in to account all sorts of practical considerations such as being weather proof, its users – families, school, children and office workers – and materials, as it was to be made from brimstone popular and green oak, supplied by our partners Vastern Timber UK.
Much of our new development at Stansfeld Park is wood clad from British poplar supplied by Vastern Timber. We wanted the benches to tie in with the building and Vastern Timber agreed to be involved in the design project and supply the materials. Thank you, Vastern.
The designs were judged by our CEO, Steve Burgess, Jude Eades (Director of Communications) and Tom Barnes from Vastern Timber. The creativity and quality of all the designs was extremely impressive, making the judges’ decision quite a challenge, but the two winning designs were selected because of their form, practicality and durability.
We are now looking forward to getting them installed so you can come and ‘take a seat’ next time you visit the Science Oxford Centre.
