Clean tech park Arnhem

Arnhem, the Netherlands

Furniture project for the restaurant at Clean Tech Park Arnhem: ten tables and twenty benches in galvanised steel, set in long rows spanning twenty metres.

The tables and benches are built from stair treads from a production run for Staco, rejected for minor faults during quality control. We flip each tread so its textured underside, the side meant to grip a foot, faces up instead. We call it Soft Side Up.

Every part we added, frames, brackets, fixings, was galvanised to the same standard as the reclaimed treads, so the whole piece reads as one material. Everything is joined with stainless steel nuts and bolts, and the tables and benches stand on adjustable feet, levelled individually to the floor.

The galvanised finish is built to hold up outdoors and will patina over time, turning slightly matte as it weathers. The design was worked out from the steel that was available at that moment.