Transportation
Grimshaw Designing New York Street Furniture
(archrecord.construction.com - 05/24/2006)
By Alan
G. Brake
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Preliminary models
of the street furniture.
Images courtesy City of New York |
The New York City Department of Transportation
recently signed a contract ordering thousands of bus shelters,
newsstands, and public toilets designed by Grimshaw Industrial
Design, a division of London-based Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners,
produced for the Spanish company, Cemusa. The deal has been
approved by the city, and is expected to get final approval
from New York’s comptroller in a matter of weeks. The
deal is worth about $1 billion. The line includes 3,300 bus
shelters, 330 newsstands, and 20 automatic toilets, all made
of stainless steel, anodized aluminum, and tempered glass.
“Working in New York, you are able
to achieve a greater economy of scale with a large production
run,” says Duncan Jackson, head of industrial design
for Grimshaw. “We’re able to work with better materials
and have stronger quality controls.”
The new structures balance robustness
with lightness, such as in the bus shelter, which has a cantilevered
design with just two feet on the ground, thanks to a large
plate anchored underneath the pavement. The firm eliminated
painted finishes and plastics, which are less durable over
the long term. According to Jackson, the goal is to have a
“neutral impact regardless of the site,” a welcome
relief for New York’s cluttered streetscapes.
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