CONVERTIBLE Bench Turns Public Seating Into Private Space

One piece of furniture can now serve as both a shared public bench and a privacy chair. CONVERTIBLE, a multifunctional seating concept by industrial designer Ümithan Üçok, reconfigures from open communal seating into an enclosed single-person seat within the same footprint.

The project merges two furniture types that normally serve opposite social behaviors. At first glance, the object functions as shared seating, keeping the openness expected of furniture in communal environments. Its form then shifts to create an enclosed seating condition that gives one person a stronger sense of personal territory.

What problem does the design address?

According to the designer's premise, cities are built around togetherness. Parks, campuses, transit hubs, waiting areas, and public plazas assume people want to sit near one another, talk, or absorb the surrounding energy. What these spaces overlook is the opposite need: a few minutes of separation without leaving the public realm entirely.

Public space has become densely programmed around movement and interaction, while opportunities for temporary retreat remain rare. Privacy usually requires entering a building, booking a room, going home, or withdrawing completely. CONVERTIBLE proposes something less absolute — a person stays present in a shared environment while establishing a temporary boundary.

How does it differ from a privacy pod?

The chair's purpose is not permanent isolation. Privacy becomes a condition that appears and disappears depending on the user.

The same seating element can support:

• meeting a friend openly
• waiting between appointments
• taking a break in company
• reading, working, or making a phone call in a sheltered position
• simply spending time alone

The furniture responds to changing behavior rather than prescribing one way of sitting, the project description states.

Why combine both functions in one object?

Public furniture must justify the area it occupies, especially where space is limited. Separate benches and separate privacy seating can crowd an environment and make it inefficient. A convertible object lets the same footprint serve different needs at different moments, giving planners and designers a way to make public seating more flexible without adding furniture.

The project also raises a quieter question about what privacy means in public. A sealed room is not always necessary. A shift in orientation, a surrounding surface, or a clearly defined personal zone can change how exposed someone feels. By moving between bench and privacy chair, CONVERTIBLE uses the furniture itself to create that psychological distinction.

The concept rests on a simple observation: people do not behave socially all the time, and the need for connection changes throughout the day while spaces rarely change with it. A plaza or waiting area must hold conversation, observation, work, and quiet retreat, often within the same hour.

CONVERTIBLE does not claim to solve urban loneliness or overcrowding. What it suggests is a more responsive category of public furniture — seating that stays open when company is welcome and closes in just enough when someone needs a moment alone.