In Moscow, 18 lanes of the capital’s ring road have been reduced to no more than 10 at any point to create the Garden Ring, with 13 new public spaces, 20 crosswalks, generous promenades and 2880 new trees.
In Vancouver, Alley Oop (pictured above) transforms an underused laneway into a place for play, with areas marked for basketball and hopscotch, seating and tables for comfort and a dedicated clean team. Strangers are seen playing together.
In Bristol, Electric Moon is an artwork and low-cost lighting installation designed to help pedestrians and cyclists see each other at a trouble spot on a dark shared path.
Historic Burns Court welcomes visitors to a tiny, pedestrian-friendly U-shaped laneway in Downtown Sarasota, Florida.
In Budapest, wavy timber lounge seats in the Városháza Park Pop-Up invite locals to relax and play in summer, with solar-powered outlets for phone charging.
Photo: Kim Bellavance.
Georges River Council to Install Outdoor Smart Hub Prototypes:
Three tailored ChillOUT hub prototypes with integrated smart technologies including WiFi, charging points, smart furniture, solar power and sensors will be installed in the Georges River Council local government area.
The hubs will be adapted to suit the needs of locals who use each installation site: an urban streetscape in Kogarah, suburban town centre in Mortdale and suburban park in Hurstville.
Georges River Council, the University of New South Wales and Street Furniture Australia received a $380,507 grant from round two of the federal government’s $50 million Smart Cities and Suburbs Program to carry out the project, after the collaborators’ success with the Smart Social Spaces project in round one.
Street Furniture Australia will co-design and manufacture the prototypes, with the University of New South Wales to install sensors including environmental gauges to capture urban heat data.
“As technology becomes more integrated into our lives, it’s important for councils to harness new technologies to better serve the needs of their communities and improve services,” Georges River Mayor Kevin Green told CIO.
“Sensors on smart furniture installed in Round 1 will enable us to access information on the daily use of public spaces and obtain data for more efficient maintenance and waste services.”
To celebrate the unveiling of the Piatto Chair at our annual product launch party with AILA NSW in Sydney, Jazz at The Mint, clients were invited to enter this quirky contest. The competition called for teams to incorporate Piatto Chairs into an ‘Awkward Family Photo’ portrait, for a chance to win Piatto Chairs of their very own. Congratulations to the creative crew from Yerrabingin, who delivered the strongest awkward family vibes on the night. Highly commended goes to the entrants below, and the full photo gallery from the event is available for viewing. Please contact marketing@streetfurniture.com if you would like to request a high res file to print and frame for your best room.
Clients from Sydney, Adelaide, California and Texas joined Street Furniture Australia and AILA NSW to celebrate the unveiling of new products on March 14, 2024, with margaritas and live music. Jazz at The Mint is an annual product launch held at The Mint, an iconic site in the heart of the Sydney CBD. It is an elegant affair and a unique opportunity to connect with landscape architects and built environment professionals at a global scale. This year’s party featured the new Linea Planter System and upcoming Piatto Chair, a single-seater hybrid between cafe and robust public space furniture – available now for specifications. The gathering was opened by Uncle Allan Murray, representing the Metropolitan Aboriginal Land Council, with speeches from: Ben Stockwin, AILA CEO, acknowledged the 10 year relationship with …
The Street Furniture Australia factory, in Regents Park, Western Sydney, is both a manufacturing hub and R&D studio for our Australian-designed and made street furniture products. We run fun and informative group events for customers throughout the year, to share how products are designed, tested and built, and the latest products and projects. This tour is open to design specifiers such as landscape architects and architects, and place custodians including Councils, government agencies, developers and other place managers. Director of Tract Julie Lee said: “It was a great opportunity for our team to look behind the scenes and understand the innovation, research and climate positive outcomes Street Furniture Australia is focusing on. Thank you for having us!” Place Design Group Associate, Liam Isaksen, said: “The factory tour is a fun …
Can Instagram Playgrounds Reach Beyond the Selfie? Pop-up rooms and sets for staging colourful, envy-inducing photos for social media – so-called Instagram playgrounds – can be designed for experience, inclusivity and accessibility as well as the ‘gram, writes Aileen Kwun for Fast Company. Kwun toured the popular Color Factory in New York City, which planned to run for one month in 2018 but continues to sell tickets and host crowds. In an interview with founder Jordan Ferney, the two discuss human-centred design, collaboration with artists, writers and historians; wayfinding and cohesive visual cues; multi-sensory experiences; and bringing the program onto the streets with a scavenger hunt that encourages visitors to explore the city. Color Factory is one of many popular and seemingly lucrative spaces appearing in the US and abroad. The first …
Emails to Melbourne’s Trees are Romantic, Funny and Strange: The city gave 70,000 trees email addresses for the public to report issues. Instead, they sent love letters and existential queries. Since the project began more than 4,000 emails have come from all over the world including from Russia, Germany, Britain, Hungary, Moldova, Singapore, Brazil, Denmark, Hong Kong and the US. A selection of the emails can be found on the ABC website, including this example: Dear Smooth-barked Apple Myrtle, I am your biggest admirer. I have always wanted to meet you, but tragically, I’m stuck in New York. I think you are the most handsome tree of them all, tall with an inviting open canopy. I love to just dream of you, the smell of your clusters of white flowers, the sight of your …
Muji’s driverless shuttle bus: Japanese brand Muji has unveiled designs for an autonomous all-weather shuttle bus, called Gacha, set to run in three cities in Finland by 2020. Muji provided the aesthetic design, wanting it to look “friendly” and inviting, with autonomous driving technology by Finnish company Sensible 4. “We are developing these vehicles so that they can become part of [the] daily transportation service chain,” says Harri Santamala, CEO of Sensible 4, in Fast Company. “Autonomous vehicles can’t become mainstream until their technology has been insured to work in all climates.” The bus features a curved, cubic externior, with no discernable distinction between its front and back. A band of LED lights act as headlights, and signal to pedestrians and other drivers. The bus is expected to be launched in Helsinki …
