On October 15, 2020, the prestigious jury of the Platforme 10 competition for the creation of benches for the mudac and the Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne chose to reward the work of Pierre Charpin.

. The designers were asked to create a bench without a backrest, with few materials, whose manufacture does not require technical tools, which can be moved easily and using local and natural materials with the notion of sustainability as a guideline.

As usual, Charpin's creation is radical with pure and clear lines. For this bench, he worked with solid oak, sublimating the raw material with large sections of wood.

Formerly a reception hall for Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) locomotives, Charpin was inspired by the essence of Platform 10's premises by reappropriating the visual language of the railroad.  The bench is indeed reminiscent of the shape of railroads, with each element fitting together perfectly.

“I wanted to make an object that has a presence, but which knows how to be, at the same time, discreet”

Charpin explains “I wanted to make an object that has a presence, but which knows how to be, at the same time, discreet”. This challenge was successful: the bench fits perfectly into the architecture; it marks by its presence while disappearing to the benefit of the works on display.

The bench will be installed from November 2021 at the MUDAC, the only museum in French-speaking Switzerland devoted exclusively to contemporary design and applied arts, and at the Musée de l'Elysée, owner of unique collections of more than one million phototypes, including several complete photographic collections such as those of Sabine Weiss, Jan Groover, René Burri or Charlie Chaplin.