Normally, you don’t want to leave a piece of furniture that looks an upholstered 18th-century chaise out in the rain. But this bench has a secret power. Water doesn’t destroy it; in fact, it slurps up rain and traps the water inside. Fast-forward about three minutes into this video, and you’ll see what I mean:
The bench, designed by Mars Architects, is meant to be a cheaper and smaller-scale — and comfier — way to harvest rainwater and create more water availability, FastCoExist writes. The studio’s put out a few in a Mumbai park to test out how well it works. In theory, the bench, with an additional aquifer buried in the ground beneath it, can hold 264 gallons.
The bench is also licensed under Creative Commons, so if you have a great desire for a water-slurping bench in your backyard or local park, it’s all yours.
