Urban street furniture
The streetscape, the urban landscape or the urban space is where people have been meeting, socialising and conducting business for centuries. The external spaces between buildings present just as many opportunities for serendipity and collaboration as our interior spaces.
Relax, eat & socialise
Street furniture allows these outdoor spaces to accommodate a stationary solution for people to relax, eat lunch, socialise and more. The importance of accessible and functioning outdoor seating that is both resistant to the virtues of drastic weather changes whilst remaining appealing is vital.
Suitable street furniture
Here we present a range of creative and fun projects curated by designers who have envisioned a range of suitable street furniture for multiple applications.
DUNE Street Furniture System by FERPECT Collective
Image Credit: FERPECT
Dune street furniture
As the name suggests, the DUNE street furniture system presents the essence of natural sand dunes places in an urban landscape. Featuring a 20 degrees slope to one side, and a flatter more sheltered form on the other, DUNE aims to present a solution for outdoor seating all year round.
French street furniture design
French design studio FERPECT have created a furniture system that would be useful through various seasons. Constructed from acacia wood, ratified pine slats form a slanted seating section ideal for the summer, and a sheltered flat side blocking off sunlight and wind.
Lightweight configuration
The shape of the various DUNE street outdoor furniture pieces together present a place where people from all walks of life can meet, relax, eat lunch, socialise or just lounge in the sun. The durable yet lightweight configuration means the various pieces can be easily transported and moved according to the flow of light and wind.
Highly functioning and non-obstructive pieces of urban street architecture, the DUNE street furniture range would be welcome in many urban squares and neighbourhoods.
Geometric Street furniture by Izabela Bołoz
Image Credit: Izabela Bołoz
Interlocking geometric-shaped furniture
Interactive furniture comes in all shapes and sizes. Polish designer Izabela Bołoz presents a range of interlocking geometric shapes to form a flexible space for people to sit, recline or climb on. The atypical form of the furniture presents allows the user to decide how they choose to utilise the furniture.
Wooden frames
Constructed from geometric wooden frames that have been stacked horizontally and then attached together, a space is created between each one leaving an equal space in between. This gives the modular seating the semi-permeable form that is seen.
Flexible street furniture
Also due to these gaps, each separate module is free to be unattached and joined elsewhere, forming a new shape of seating altogether. Presenting a truly flexible street furniture system means the modules can all be constructed to suit the urban landscape of its location.
Ductal Street furniture by Olivier Chabaud and Leveque
Image Credit: Oliver Chabaud
Economical street furniture
French designer Oliver Chabaud works with seemingly everyday objects and interiors to create something far from obvious. Teaming up with Leveque, he presents a modern and economical street furniture range, Ductal.
CNC machine shaped furniture
Formed from research into the possible application of outdoor canteen furniture that adapts to its local urban landscape context, he works with CNC technology to create this specific ribbed pattern. In order to make the pieces long-lasting and easy to assemble and re-assemble, the ribbed pattern forms a jigsaw style edge, meaning various pieces can be joined together where necessary.
Plywood & metal construction
Formed from plywood, held together with metal frames, the seats present an ergonomic range of benches and chairs for application in numerous locations.
‘Guerrilla Street Furniture’ by Oliver Show
Image Credit: Oliver Show
Simple, functional & accessible furniture solution
Street furniture does not always need to be created from high tech machines or calculated pieces of wood, as shown by Oliver show. An architect graduate with an interest in product design, he embarked on an exploration of urban seating and came up with this simple, functioning and accessible solution.
Ad-hoc furniture solutions
Created in Hamberg, Germany, Show wrapped bike stands, bus stops, and other suitable space he found with yellow draining pipes. The installations work to highlight the lack of public seating in urban spaces. The simplicity of the project highlights how unconventional and ad hoc solutions are undermined when it comes to providing simple streetscape solutions.
