Prototype for the mediterranean climate exhibited at INTERNI CROSS VISION event-exhibition at FuoriSalone 2024
Designed by Topotek 1
In partnership with MDT-tex
Supported by Mapei
With E. Raiss GmbH + Co. Baustoffhandel KG and Ideal Posa Art of Tiles
FuoriSalone 2024 April 15-28
Università Degli Studi di Milano
Addressing climate change requires an approach that spans disciplines and integrates diverse forms of knowledge and cultural traditions. This urgency extends to reimagining public spaces in relevance to shifting environmental conditions. In response to that, we are developing a new range of climate adaptive urban furniture. By prioritizing environmental responsiveness, the bench prototype SIT TOGETHER
revolutionizes outdoor seating and challenges mono-functionality by merging aspects of the classic European bench with the benefit of a Persian chimney.
A combination of convection and thermal mass provide a warm and a cool side to the bench, while the cooling tower offers protection from sun. The bench accommodates all passers-by, throughout the day and the year, with seating at various inclinations that encourage encounter and lingering in comfort. In the context of the exhibition Interni Cross Vision, SIT TOGETHER invites visitors to find a pleasant retreat from the springtime sun in the Ca’Granda at the Università Degli Studi di Milano.
SIT TOGETHER is conceptualised as a dual-sided bench, with a darker warm side and lighter cool side. The thermal mass of the bench is covered in a terrazzo-like surface, transitioning from dark-coloured granite on the warm side to sandstone on the cool side. The horizontal mass of the bench asymmetrically encircles a hollow aluminium cooling tower, together forming in-built climate conditioning. During times of warmth and solar gain, sprinklers near the top opening of the tower cools warm air and directs it downwards. The cool air streams out as a slight breeze through perforations just above the base of the tower towards the cool side — with its higher albedo also offering a cooler seating surface. In winter, the darker surface concentrated on the narrower side of the bench absorbs and retains heat as long as the sun shines.