Two types of benches are part of this campaign — one bench can be transformed into a temporary shelter, while the other has two messages on it. One of the messages is written in ultraviolet ink and becomes legible when struck by sunlight, saying “This is a bench”. Once it’s dark the message is replaced by the text “This is a bedroom”, that’s written in glow-in-the-dark ink.
The campaign shows that a city can be more open and hospitable to the homeless, although it shouldn’t claim to offer proper sleeping places for them. In recent years it has become a trend to develop design projects for or create campaigns that address the homeless. ‘The homeless’ have become a pleasant design target group that doesn’t talk back. Projects under this label seem to be socially relevant, while the actual homeless do only seldomly really benefit. Having said that, I think this particular interventions makes a great campaign, done by an honest organization that really tries to improve the lives of the homeless.