Interactive Guggenheim Bench
In Spring 2025, I had the opportunity to take a Yale design course called Making Spaces, a class about reimagining and improving physical environments through collaborative design. Each year the course runs, it partners with a different museum to identify spatial challenges or areas for improvement. Students work together in teams to develop creative solutions tailored to those needs. The year I took the course, we worked with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
My team designed an interactive bench to address several concerns raised by the Guggenheim. One key issue was the underuse of the museum’s entrance area, which lacks the inviting atmosphere and seating found in spaces like the Met’s entrance. Our bench encourages visitors to linger by providing a place to sit. It also incorporates interactive features to attract passersby and draw them into the museum, helping to address declining visitor numbers.
We designed and built the circular bench at 1/4 scale of the original 8-foot diameter, matching the size of the circular inlays on the museum’s exterior pavement. The bench also possesses a planter in the shape of a miniature Guggenheim rotunda.
The bench uses time-of-flight sensors to detect when someone is nearby. When triggered, the normally orange-hued addressable LED lights along the base begin to pulse, and an internal speaker plays audio. The audio highlights facts about the museum, details about current exhibitions, ticket prices, opening hours, descriptions of artworks, and more—aimed at engaging those nearby and encouraging them to explore further. The model is constructed primarily from plastic, MDF, plaster, and electronic components.
Design Process
Conception
Computer Design
Construction
Electronics
Presenting at the Guggenheim
