Curved Brushed Stainless Wall Relief with Integrated Seating for a Public Park

304 Stainless

A city park needed a sculptural wall that would define a gathering lawn without feeling like a barrier. We delivered a 14 m curved brushed stainless steel relief that steps with the topography, its folded facets catching morning and evening light while the base forms a continuous bench.

The brief

A municipal park redesign called for a 14 m sculptural wall along the edge of a new event lawn. The wall had to shelter the lawn from prevailing wind, provide informal seating, and become a recognizable landmark for wayfinding — all without fencing off the green space. The brief specified a 10-week fabrication window and a 25-year design life in a freeze-thaw climate.

Design approach

The relief traces the existing landform contour, so the wall reads as a raised ridge rather than an inserted object. Its surface is folded into shallow triangular facets at 150 mm depth, angled so low sun rakes across them and animates the wall through the day. The bottom 450 mm of the wall is left flat and radiused to become a continuous bench; drainage slots are cut into the bench face so rain does not pool.

Material & engineering

304 stainless steel, 3 mm plate, press-braked into facets and seam-welded from the back. The wall is self-supporting on a concrete strip footing with concealed base plates; thermal expansion over 14 m is absorbed by slotted anchor holes and a 6 mm neoprene pad. Brushed finish (Scotch-Brite #4) was chosen for graffiti resistance and low glare in a family park.

Wind load was calculated to Eurocode 1 Part 1-4 for a 2.4 m high free-standing wall; the folded geometry adds stiffening so the section requires no intermediate posts.

Fabrication & finish

Facets were CNC-cut, press-braked, and welded in 2 m shop sections. Welds are ground flush and re-brushed so the grain runs continuously across seams. Each section was trial-assembled on a jig to verify the 3D curve before crating. The visible face was inspected under directional light for oil-canning before shipment.

Installation

Sections were craned onto the prepared footing over two days during park closure. Base plates were levelled with stainless shims, anchors torqued, and joints hand-brushed on site to blend the seams. The bench face received a final pass with a non-abrasive pad to remove any handling marks.

Outcome & value

The wall now anchors the event lawn: it blocks the prevailing wind, seats 30 people along its length, and appears in every drone photo of the park. Graffiti was removed with a single solvent wipe in year one; no re-finishing has been needed. The municipality has since specified the same detail for two other parks.