Recycled Site Furniture by loll Designs

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon this site furniture by loll Designs located in Duluth, MN. They are using 100% recycled High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and Richlite, an environmentally friendly composite wood. I love their simple and elegant designs. There are a number from which to choose, but most are oriented to a less formal relaxing style (i.e. adirondack). I see most of them being used in a residential setting, but that is not to say they would not complement the right outdoor public space. I wonder how well the materials would hold up under public stress? They offer a dining set in square and rectangular tables. The laser engraved artwork option for the backs of the T77 dining chairs is a nice touch. Despite how great they look on their website, I would still want to see the Richlite in person before I used them on a project. Unfortunately, most of the styles only come in black and white, but a few offer splashes of color. One interesting website detail is the indicator as to how many recycled milk jugs go into each piece of furniture. Their site is definitely worth checking out.

Mural Paving and Sculptural Bench At Parque de la Paz

While visiting Escofet's website, I was reminded of the Parque de la Paz in Barcelona (see map). The mural paving and xurret system "bench" from Escofet have always intrigued me. The "bench" is definitely crazy looking. It probably is considered more of a landscape sculpture than a bench. However, for the right space, it could provide a dramatic addition. I am sure the mosaic paving wasn't cheap nor easy to do. I would love to know more about it. Every since seeing it, I have wondered if the quilting software Photo Xpress software could be used to facilitate the same effect. I hope to try it someday.

Beautiful Cafe Chair

The photo above is from our recent visit to San Antonio, TX and is included in our December update. We ran across these cafe chairs at the Hemisphere Park. The chair is called Stax and is made by ORIGLIA , an Italian site furniture company located in Savigliano, Italy near Torino. The chair's frames are aluminum. The company's literature states that they are 100% recycled. The wood components are Acacia in a teak finish. I am not familiar with this type of wood though it looks beautiful. However, I didn't see any information in regard to the wood being certified. Looking for a US distributor, I ran across EuroFurniture, a distributor in Chicago. They run between $390-$430 depending if you add the arm rest. Not cheap and they probably won't contribute toward your LEED regional materials points, but definitely furniture that will accent any space.

Backless Bench for Large Plaza

BEEK design in Belgium has put together a cool bench series. As far as I can tell the series is called ensemble. They are not as flexible as I would like but I think their arrangement offers a variety of seating and social options. The design would complement almost any large open plaza. They need to offer options for backs and armrest. If I used them, I keep thinking that I will need to have a least 50% of them meet ADA which could be a whole other post, but a reality designers must grapple with time and time again.

Planter + Bench

Mixing two different garden elements together, in this case a bench and planter, make for refreshing design when done well. I have not seen this item in person which is always a bit dangerous, (I have been burnt before on poor quality furniture that looked great in the photos) but this looks like a fun garden bench. The planters seem a bit too small for boxwood's long term survival in the garden and depending on the location maybe through the winter, but I could easily see annuals or perennials working as well. As for the small table, I think the grass needs more soil to survive (The current photo is computer generated), but I like the idea. I always thought it would be fun to do something like this to create a vegetated pool table. I found these items at MadinDesign.

Making Space on Your Balcony

I ran across this small planter called "On The Edge Pot" from Design Within Reach (link to DWR page). With the proliferation of small high-rise residential balconies across the country, there seems to be a great opportunity to design furniture for these small places. Surprisingly, it seems to be an underserved market. Products like this are a great start.

parckdesign Competition Results

Earlier this year, Pro Materia and Bruxelles-Environnement organized an open site furniture design competition for Jardins du Fleuriste Park in Brussels called parckdesign (Link: Competition Site). The competition was initiated by Evelyne Huytebroeck, Brussel’s minister of environment and energy. Of the 71 entries received, 5 were selected by a jury of 17 professionals. I could not find any information on their website as to the rules or awards for the competition. All of the entries were benches, so I assume creating a bench was a prerequisite. They definitely had a great response and receive a number of interesting solutions. I was disappointed with the winning solutions. They obviously were not concerned with the act of sitting. They seemed to be more concerned with form and were rather mundane and/or uncomfortable. Of the winning entries, the one I liked most was Breath. It offered users a means of getting an alternative vantage point in a public space.

Many of the designs that were not chosen offered more seating choices and comfort while still providing visually interesting designs. The five entries that I thought were more interesting included the following (Links are to the summary of each entry found on the competition website):

• Ntree: This solution created a striking sculptural element that could be used to frame views while providing a great place to sit and have a conversation.
• Bracelet d'arbre: At first, I thought this was ridiculous, but the more I thought about it, this solution is addresses those times that people would like to sit on the grass, but forgot their blanket. I realize the panels would likely kill the grass, but it could offer a unique pattern of use in the landscape.
• Treecuzzi: I like the versatility of this piece. The ability of sitting around a circle in a group in the interior or sitting individually on the outside edge was a good solution.
• Banc brut: I thought this bench looked comfortable. I also liked how the pieces could be arranged in different configurations.
• 2many: This piece offered various choices for sitting including laying on the grass. I love the integration with the landscape.

The competition site is worth checking out. You can see all of the submitted entries. They even include photos of the fabrication process of the winning entries (link to fabrication photos).