Take a seat: City Benches winning designs revealed during LFA
The City of London is one of this year’s London Festival of Architecture’s (LFA) key focus areas, and one of the hub’s big flagship events has just been unveiled; the winning designs of the City Benches competition that took place earlier this spring have just been installed at their respective sites.
The winners, a series of one-off benches, were selected via an open-call competition that sought to reward young, dynamic practices that submitted creative designs in a range of materials and styles. The process involved the winning designs being realised and installed in a specific location – designs were matched with sites by the organisers.
The nine selected pieces have now been unveiled at a variety of London locations, including London Bridge Station, the Royal Exchange, the Bloomberg Arcade, One New Change, 150 Cheapside, Bow Church Yard, Fen Court, Creechurch Place, and Jubilee Gardens. The studios behind the imaginative creations range in scale, and their approaches are equally varied, with benches produced in everything from concrete and wood to metal and ceramics. Some reference the locale’s identity, and for others, the author has found inspiration in more personal stories and readings of the city.
‘For the London Festival of Architecture – with our mission to change London for the better and support its emerging creative talent, City Benches is the perfect project’, says LFA director Tamsie Thomson. ‘The new installations demonstrate how small-scale interventions, in the hands of talented architects and designers, can make a big difference the city around us and will be enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people. We’re very grateful to the City of London Corporation, Cheapside Business Alliance and Team London Bridge for making this project happen.‘
The project was brought to life as a partnership between the LFA, the City of London Corporation and Cheapside Business Alliance. The benches will remain at their current location until the end of the month, when the festival closes.
INFORMATION
For more information visit the London Festival of Architecture website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Palazzo Roma embodies the heritage of Roman noblesse
Palazzo Roma, part of the Shedir Collection, boasts eclectic and eccentric interiors by Giampiero Panepinto
By Luke Abrahams Published
-
Boise Passive House’s bold gestures support an environmentally friendly design
Boise Passive House by Haas Architecture combines sleek, contemporary design and environmental efficiency
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Tour the Morgan Motor Company’s Worcestershire factory
The Morgan Motor Company might seem timeless – or even dated – but underneath the handcrafted aluminium bodywork is a manufacturer with great skills and grand plans: we take a factory tour
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
In memoriam: John Miller (1930-2024)
We remember John Miller, an accomplished British architect and educator who advocated a quiet but rigorous modernism
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
River Wing at Clare College responds to its historic Cambridge heritage
University of Cambridge opens its new River Wing on Clare College Old Court, uniting modern technology with historic design
By Clare Dowdy Published
-
Camden Workshop offers flexible family space in a transformed north London warehouse
Camden Workshop, a transformed industrial space in north London, was designed by architects McLaren Excell to combine residential space and a creative studio for its owners
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
The Haydon shows off its dramatic stepped volume and triplex penthouse
The Haydon, designed by architects Acme, reveals the triplex penthouse within its dramatic, stepped volume in London’s Aldgate
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
This Oxfordshire house is a modern retreat designed to frame views of nature
An Oxfordshire house by Richard Parr Associates draws on its content to craft contemporary countryside living for its users
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
‘London Estates’ surveys the architecture and influence of the capital’s council-built homes
‘London Estates: Modernist Council Housing 1946-1981’, a new book by FUEL, is the perfect place to start for inspiration on how architecture can improve every sector of society
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
The Architecture Window opens in London offering space for ‘micro-exhibitions’
The Architecture Window by Unknown Works opens at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, creating space for creative exploration and fresh voices around the built environment
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
‘Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence’ at the V&A is a bold exploration
London’s V&A presents ‘Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence’, a deep dive into 1940s architectural influences within West Africa and India
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published