Guerrilla architecture pops up locally

MOUNT PLEASANT -- If nothing else, the ongoing slump in the architecture and construction sectors has benefited a few bus riders here.

That's because a public-spirited yet mischievous group of local architects with a little extra time on their hands recently built a new bench where the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority bus stops at U.S. Highway 17 and Mathis Ferry Road.

For free.

Of course, they held down costs by skipping the step where they were supposed to get proper design review, building permits and permission to encroach in the state highway right of way.

No lawyers. No insurance. No permits. No problem.

Not surprisingly, the group isn't composed of government officials who would agree with their laissez-faire approach, so they want to remain anonymous.

The group got inspired after studying the concept of guerrilla architecture -- a term that refers to just designing and building stuff with little or no regard to the powers that be.

There have been guerrilla gardens created in New York City and guerrilla benches and shelters in Raleigh and probably other places, but the concept is rather new here.

After learning a little about guerrilla architecture from the Internet, the local group of architects competed to come up with the best plan for the bench.

The winning design is simple enough: a series of uneven, treated boards that, just for good measure, are bolted to a neighboring trash can. It even contains a stencilled image of a gorilla.

The architects acknowledge that the bus stop bench won't win a design award.

That trash can, along with a small CARTA sign, were all that had existed at the bus stop. In other words, it was a typically desolate place that testifies to the Lowcountry's general lack of interest in public transportation.

Now it at least has a place where people can sit while they wait.

The architects thought about constructing it surreptitiously, under the cover of night, but they eventually decided to take their chances and simply install it in daylight one recent Friday afternoon.

One of the architects who remained at the office was nervous that the phone would ring and he would learn someone had been arrested.

But no one said a thing.

The notion of guerrilla architecture has its limits: It's doubtful that Charleston will decide to abandon its Board of Architectural Review and just let people build what they want (though that did seem to work OK in the 18th and 19th centuries).

Still, architects who have had been frustrated by bureaucracy would understandably find some appeal in this approach.

They realize, however, it's uncertain whether the bench will stand the test of time once town and state officials realize it's there.