EASTERN MARKET BENCH

On the heels of the successful Music for Everyone piano shelter competition in Lancaster, PA, CDA competed for and was awarded the commission to build an artwork installation for the urban plaza in front of the historic Eastern Market Building (1883) where Tabor Community Services is housed.

The design concept is an internally illuminated abstract bench form, anchored to and anchoring a tree in the plaza. The idea for the bench grew out of the initial site visit and understanding the surrounding neighborhood as a place where residents spend time on their front stoops engaging the life on the streets. The bench was also envisioned as a useful armature for vendors to display wares when the Saturday markets spill onto the plaza. Additionally CDA worked with Poetry Paths to tie the bench into their larger vision of publicly accessible poetry throughout the city by incorporating a Pablo Neruda poem. The design is rooted in CDA’s belief that beauty and utility can be fused.