3D-printed benches protect pedestrians from vehicular attacks

The one-ton benches provide a discreet protective barrier in one of New York City’s most popular destinations

Spotted: Inventor, designer and creative director Joe Doucet created 3D-printed benches for public spaces. His goal was to improve pedestrian safety without compromising on the aesthetics of good design.

Rely Protective Public Seating could easily be mistaken for nothing more than a nice places to sit. Each bench weighs more than one ton. They are 3D-printed via extrusion, a technique usually used with plastics. The seating was first used in New York’s Times Square.

The triangular shape makes them easy to stack and arrange in different configurations. Should anything crash into the benches, interior steel rods allow them to slide into a new configuration that stops any further force.

Doucet holds multiple patents for his work and has won a number of awards. Created for NYCxDesign 2019 as part of the Times Square Design Lab initiative, the Rely bench system is currently undergoing the international vehicle crash barrier test in order to measure its full resistance capacity.