Test Benches - Le Gouvernail

Ah but in Saint-Étienne, benches are not just for sitting on. The Bancs d’Essai (Test Benches) scheme offers more curious passers-by the chance to take part in a life-size test. They – you – can try out the latest in urban furniture created by artists and designers from all over the world.
No more struggling to find your way around town. Meet Le Gouvernail, a movable dial that orients pedestrians looking for a destination on a plan and points them in the right direction.

It consists of a post with a two-faced dial and plan of the area. The pedestrian finds his destination and the corresponding number in the key to the plan. He then takes Le Gouvernail and turns it until the number at the top of the dial is in front of him. Then all he has to do is set off in that direction. Le Gouvernail enables the user to become more aware of his environment. It's nothing like the pedestrians you see with their nose in their smartphone. Mechanical, standalone, made of a virtuously small number of components: this object is a riposte to the energy-guzzling digital world and its soon-to-be obsolete objects.

Perfectly intuitive to use, Le Gouvernail needs neither explanation nor user manual. It is universal. This entirely mechanical French invention has already won over many cities.