Sails Park Benches is a beautifully conceived monument by Les Ateliers Guyon.
It commemorates the founding families of the small village where it’s located: Vercheres, Canada. Vercheres is 30 minutes from Montreal on the bank of Saint Lawrence River and was discovered by people who arrived in the region by sailboats in 1740.
The bench consists of 3 tall metallic structures with white oak (used before for the construction of sailboats) and concrete as a complement and support. Set on the bank of the river, each structure has a long triangular shape with a 101° tilt evoking a sailboat.
The bench is a mixture of eras, places, textures and materials that takes us to a place full of history and poetry. The viewer feels as if they are traveling back in time to the village’s very origins.
What makes the Sails Park Benches even more interesting is that in the bottom of each structure there is a small board that, in combination with the tilted sail, turns it into a comfortable bench on which pedestrian can sit and enjoy the view.
It’s a more human approach to the bench, letting people actually interact and get involved with the space, feel the wind, the sound of the river, and return to their roots.
When it comes to the concept of “monument”, in this case it’s no longer about a statue that is only meant for observation: the location of the Sails-benches, the material they’re made from, even their production process carried out by artisans from the village, are all facts that honor the Vercheres history and its people.
