Street furniture is found in many shapes, sizes and styles depending on its environment, inspiration and designers.
We’ve worked on a number of seating commissions over the years and the result is always unique:
1. Spun Bench by Mathias Bengstton in Deptford
Internationally acclaimed artist Mathias Bengttson won the 2005 St James Street Furniture Award. He developed a new process and material – spun carbon fibre. It was partly developed by NASA to produce lightweight, strong, cylindrical pressure vehicles. The 12m long sculptural seat, commissioned by Futurecity, snakes through the heart of the One SE8 development.
2. Benches by Millimetre at Kings Hill
Futurecity was appointed by Liberty Property Trust to develop a comprehensive wayfinding strategy for the Kings Hill, an award-winning development at the old Royal Air Force station near West Malling in Kent. Specialist fabricators Millimetre produced the artworks and designed bespoke benches and planters for the scheme.
Image © Joe Clark
3. Big Table by Alison Crowther at Kew Bridge
The ambition for the ‘Big Table’ within the Kew Bridge landscape was to create a landmark sculptural artwork that also carried a unique function. The concept behind the work is that of the ‘communal table’, which aims to encourage social interaction and a sense of community. It is a multi-purpose installation to be used by all members of the Kew Bridge West community. British artist Alison Crowther was appointed to deliver the commission.
Image © Ron Bambridge
4. Skystation by Peter Newman at Riverlight & The South Bank
Skystation is an interactive public sculpture, inspired by Le Corbusier’s LC4 chaise-longue, that also acts as a piece of public seating. The contours of the work fit the reclining human form and encourage contemplation of the vast expanse of space above. An object to be both observed and used, Skystation has the incidental effect of bringing its users’ heads into close proximity, thereby making conversation between strangers almost inevitable.
Image © Peter Newman
5. Midsummer Lawn Seating by James Hopkins in Cambridge
A sculpture and landscape artwork for Cambridge. Solid cast bronze benches designed through catoptric anamorphosis are placed around a mirror finished stainless steel cylinder. The mirror transforms the distorted benches into the perfect image of two domestic / school chairs. The surrounding amphitheatre completes the artwork as a playful space for residents and visitors that references the sites history as a school since the 19th century.
Image © Futurecity
6. Nils Norman in Great Kneighton
Nils Norman is infiltrating a vocabulary and artistic approach across the entire 120 acre country park at Great Kneighton. His focus is through 6 projects that enhance the ways in which residents and the wider local community can access and use the park, and engage positively with its amenity space, with its potential to support local wildlife, and its ability to grow food. The 6 projects areas are : Signage and Wayfinding, Street Furniture, Bird screens, Allotments & Community Gardens, Active Recreation Area, Hobson’s Brook Bridges.
7. Terra Ludi by Simon & Tom Bloor at Riverlight
This commission explores informal play through the use of unexpected materials. Two elements make up the artwork, the first is a geometric rocky outcrop and tree trunk sculpture, referencing natural materials but created in concrete and bronze. The second element is a network of concrete stepping-stones, scattered along the Thames Riverside and Nine Elms Lane, designed to encourage an exploration of the public realm. They also provide playful spaces to sit and contemplate.
8. Simon & Tom Bloor at Great Kneighton
‘Art & Play’ is working alongside the site’s Great Kneighton Play Strategy to develop a series of creative interventions within the public realm to encourage informal play and interaction for all ages. Simon and Tom Bloor are developing projects with many of the different housbuilding and strategic development teams that include large open recreation areas, small play spaces, incidental moments of play across the site, and street furniture that support way-finding and play.
