Eccentric benches sit pretty during London Festival of Architecture

The City of London – the Square Mile that contains St Paul’s, the Barbican, and the Gherkin amongst other architectural landmarks – is known as London’s financial district, yet recently, with the news of Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s concert hall and Foster’s tulip-shaped tourist tower, it seems the City is going in a new direction. Five new home-grown cultural attractions will be found in the City for the month of June – a series of eccentric benches designed by young Londoners with ambitions to add some delight to the daily life.
Partnering up with the London Festival of Architecture, the City of London Corporation and Cheapside Business Alliance commissioned five new benches for the Cheapside area – choosing the winning designs through a competition open to young architects and designers. The challenge was to design an ‘imaginative place for people to rest amidst the bustle of their city surroundings.’
The group of judges (including Ellie Stathaki, Wallpaper* architecture editor) got together to sift through nearly 100 entries from a whole range of architecture and design students, recent graduates and emerging practices. What stood out to them this year – the competition is in its second iteration after its success last year – was bold colour, unconventional shapes, curves, hearts and dogs – all in all, the designs seem to be seeking to bring a little bit of happiness to the streets of London.
Benchtime by Anna Janiak Studio.
The five winners were then let loose with budget of £800 to create and manufacture their benches, and as a result, some very unexpected objects have descended on the city. One bench (Whippet Good) designed by Delve Architects with DragonSmoke Construction, is shaped like a giant, curled up whippet dog, plopped onto the pavement. Anna Janiak Studio’s bench is inspired by life-sized astronomical instruments and Armor Gutiérrez Rivas and Atelier La Juntana’s heart-shaped loveseat might just inspire some romance over a Pret sandwich or two over the next month.
The concept of play has been incited by all designers and architects involved: Astrain Studio Architects’ colourful design of interlocking geometric forms was inspired by children’s building blocks, and Sarah Emily Porter with James Trundle’s bench promises to shake up the daily commute with a rhythmic take on the shape lifted from the London tube map.
Correlated Journeys by Sarah Emily Porter with James Trundle
‘Together, the benches demonstrate not only the brilliance of London’s emerging architects, designers and artists, but also how small interventions can make such a difference to how people can experience and enjoy London’s streets and spaces,’ says Tamsie Thomson, Director of the London Festival of Architecture.
These benches are simple, creative, democratic urban tools that add to city life in so many ways. Instead of packing people into a lift to ship them up into a bulbous bar above the city, they are open to all to enjoy the city daily – designed by young Londoners with bright ideas, they are pops of colour and humour to uplift the urban fabric, and add to the social layers of life at street level.
Love Without Borders by Armor Gutiérrez Rivas, Atelier La Juntana
Whippet Good by Delve Architects with DragonSmoke Construction
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.
Harriet Thorpe is a writer, journalist and editor covering architecture, design and culture, with particular interest in sustainability, 20th-century architecture and community. After studying History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Journalism at City University in London, she developed her interest in architecture working at Wallpaper* magazine and today contributes to Wallpaper*, The World of Interiors and Icon magazine, amongst other titles. She is author of The Sustainable City (2022, Hoxton Mini Press), a book about sustainable architecture in London, and the Modern Cambridge Map (2023, Blue Crow Media), a map of 20th-century architecture in Cambridge, the city where she grew up.
-
Highlights from the transporting Cruise 2026 shows
The Cruise 2026 season began yesterday with a Chanel show at Lake Como, heralding the start of a series of jet-setting, destination runway shows from fashion’s biggest houses
-
Behind the design of national pavilions in Venice: three studios to know
Designing the British, Swiss and Mexican national pavilions at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 are three outstanding studios to know before you go
-
Premium patisserie Naya is Mayfair’s latest sweet spot
Heritage meets opulence at Naya bakery in Mayfair, London. With interiors by India Hicks and Anna Goulandris, the patisserie looks good enough to eat
-
A new London house delights in robust brutalist detailing and diffused light
London's House in a Walled Garden by Henley Halebrown was designed to dovetail in its historic context
-
A Sussex beach house boldly reimagines its seaside typology
A bold and uncompromising Sussex beach house reconfigures the vernacular to maximise coastal views but maintain privacy
-
This 19th-century Hampstead house has a raw concrete staircase at its heart
This Hampstead house, designed by Pinzauer and titled Maresfield Gardens, is a London home blending new design and traditional details
-
An octogenarian’s north London home is bold with utilitarian authenticity
Woodbury residence is a north London home by Of Architecture, inspired by 20th-century design and rooted in functionality
-
What is DeafSpace and how can it enhance architecture for everyone?
DeafSpace learnings can help create profoundly sense-centric architecture; why shouldn't groundbreaking designs also be inclusive?
-
The dream of the flat-pack home continues with this elegant modular cabin design from Koto
The Niwa modular cabin series by UK-based Koto architects offers a range of elegant retreats, designed for easy installation and a variety of uses
-
Are Derwent London's new lounges the future of workspace?
Property developer Derwent London’s new lounges – created for tenants of its offices – work harder to promote community and connection for their users
-
Showing off its gargoyles and curves, The Gradel Quadrangles opens in Oxford
The Gradel Quadrangles, designed by David Kohn Architects, brings a touch of playfulness to Oxford through a modern interpretation of historical architecture