Mission Dolores Park, CA

Street Furniture Australia’s Classic Plaza Seats, Settings and Benches were specified by the San Francisco Department of Public Works for Mission Dolores Park, for the timeless forms and adjustable legs to achieve level installation on sloping inclines.

Gabriel Meil, an urban designer with Public Works, had seen the adjustable Classic Plaza leg in action on the sculpted hills of the University of California’s Mission Bay campus, during his time with PWP Landscape Architecture.

“We wanted a classic looking bench with modern sensibilities to go with the character of the park,” he says.

Mission Dolores is a significant cultural landscape and the most intensely used park in San Francisco. Street Furniture Australia was part of a $20 million multi-year renewal project, lead by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department and San Francisco Department of Public Works, and a consultant design team of RHAA, Hamilton + Aitken and Shared Spaces.

The first Classic Plaza installations in this iconic San Francisco place date back to Phase One of the renewal project in 2014, with the most recent installed in 2016.

The park underwent a full transformation, with fresh seating and infrastructure across the 15 acres: tailored seats and benches with custom dividers and eco-certified hardwood battens are found throughout.

The Helen Diller Playground features five picnic settings for families to enjoy.

Five years on from installation, the Mission Dolores Classic Plaza suite is still performing well, thanks to its quality Street Furniture Australia design, materials used, and regular maintenance by Council.

The Classic Plaza Seat has been a best selling product for Street Furniture Australia since 1978. Its timeless form makes it ideal for heritage areas, and for contemporary projects to stand the test of time.

The bench dividers were designed specially for the City of San Francisco by Street Furniture Australia.

The Classic Plaza has also been featured in film and television productions: one seat was recently spotted in the 2017 Netflix series Girlboss.

Scene from Girlboss, shot on a Classic Plaza Seat, 2017.