Origins of the Bench
Designed by Norwegian company Snøhetta, NMoQ’s Peace Bench is actually the second of its kind. The first was originally commissioned by the Nobel Peace Center and temporarily installed in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York City in 2019 before being permanently installed in Oslo.
Originally titled The Best Weapon, after a quote by Nelson Mandela, the bench measures 6.5 metres long and is made from 100% recyclable aluminium. It was created in collaboration with the well-known furniture company Vestre. The design of the bench is intentionally sloped in the center, so that when people sit on it, they find themselves ‘forced’ to sit next to each other – a purposeful way of bringing people together and encouraging interactions between strangers. In this way, the bench symbolises the bridging of gaps between different nations.
