Seat Light Control Bench (SLCB) • Re-imagining the Technology of the Urban Streetscape  •  2014–2018

To see the installation in a minute, click HERE

A winner of the Boston Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics first Public Space Invitational competition, The Street Light Control Bench design transforms the ubiquitous lighting control boxes found littering sidewalks in every urban streetscape on the planet into an elegant bench.

The UL-listed enclosure, which houses the control equipment in a new horizontal orientation, is matched to the bases of existing boxes, making the replacement installation simple: disconnect the wiring to the old equipment; unbolt the old box and remove it; bolt the SLCB onto the base; connect the wiring; switch it on.

The access door to the SLCB doubles as a 30” x 6’ bench surface. In free-standing installations the bench can accommodate 6–8 sitters using both sides. Gas-filled struts allow the seat to be raised and locked open, and the pivoting bracket holding the control equipment to be raised to a vertical position for maintenance.

The prototype bench was championed by the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, funded by a grant from the City of Boston, and produced in consultation with the Boston Public Works Street Lighting Department. After a trial installation in 2017 near the Tufts Medical Center Boston, the SLCB prototype was relocated in 2018 to a permanent home next to the 1729 Old South Meeting House, on the Freedom Trail near the Old State House and Boston City Hall.