Design
This Brilliant Rain-Collecting 'Sofa' Can Help Address Scarce Water Supplies
A super useful piece of furniture for the outdoor urban living room.
The Water Bench is a rain-collecting outdoor "sofa" that could be a promising, micro-solution to the problem of water conservation.
Developed by MARS Architects in collaboration with BMW Guggenheim Lab, the Water Bench looks like the outdoor version of the traditional Chesterfield sofa, made of recycled plastic instead of Italian leather. Like its 18th century, indoor counterpart, the Water Bench also has grooves and seams, which guide rainwater to buttons that double as water inlets. And as rainwater collects in tanks within the bench, the outer surface dries for seating.