I was contacted by Ringkøbing-Skjern Kommune and our local trade association, who, in connection with the re-installation of A. R. Penck's sculpture Alpha-Ypsilon, commissioned me to design and build some solid outdoor benches. And what could be more obvious than to incorporate these worn old pockholz storm poles?

In rainy weather, you clearly see the raw formwork marks in the concrete.

Pockholz is an extremely hard and robust type of wood. I chose to solve the challenge of getting the poles (weighing several hundred kilos each) into the right angled position with concrete gables. The casting and assembly work was expertly handled by local PJP.

The benches are ultra raw and deliberately designed so that they appear decades old, and I have to admit I am very satisfied with the result myself. Even in a tourist town, a wharf is basically a place of work and should be neither neat nor polished.

The wharf benches, and A.R. Penck's beautiful totem-like sculpture by night.

The longest of the benches—measuring 4.85 meters in length, like the storm poles it is constructed with—weighs about 1.2 tons. That is, neither storm surges nor theft will ever be a theme.