by Brianna Crandall — February 19, 2014—Landscape Forms, provider of integrated collections of high-design site furniture and advanced LED lighting around the world, has introduced MultipliCITY, an international collection of outdoor public furniture elements that the company says gives new meaning to the term “global design.” Created and developed in partnership with celebrated sustainable industrial design innovators Yves Behar and Fuseproject, MultipliCITY is said to pioneer the integration of mass production and custom design with a truly global design vocabulary.
“The economic shift of recent years has led to a new appreciation of design that is less fussy, more clear and purposeful,” explains Landscape Forms President, Richard Heriford. Globally it’s a new day and that opens the door for a new aesthetic. For several years we have been doing research on efficiently delivering product globally, so the time is right. MultipliCITY will be equally at home in Buenos Aires, Barcelona and Boston.”
The challenge, as Yves Behar explains it, was “to create something new to express local identity, micro-curated space, and integration with hardscape and landscape while offering surprise and delight.” The result is a dynamic and flexible system that combines the efficiencies of mass production, the flexibility of custom materials and configurations for expressing local cultural preferences, and the carbon-reducing sustainability of flat shipping and local assembly for international markets.
The system includes seven elements: a backed and backless bench, table, bike rack, pathlight, and single-sided and double-sided litter receptacles. Elements are made up of standard mass-produced structural parts, which include cast aluminum frames and brackets, and locally manufactured parts, notably seating and table surfaces which may be specified in standard hardwoods in North America, or locally sourced hardwoods in other parts of the world.
“MultipliCITY comes to life in outdoor space,” explains Landscape Forms V.P. of Design Kirt Martin. “The forms are visually interesting and complement the landscape and surrounding architecture. And the detailing in the joinery plays beautifully with light.” Benches and tables are substantial in scale, with generous wood boards that offer a familiar softness to the touch. Solid and grounded, the system imparts a sense of ease, permanence and stability, says Landscape Forms.
According to the company, MultipliCITY is interactive and user-centered. Benches can be configured in multiple geometries and can accommodate an optional table affixed to the back for holding a laptop or lunch. Bike racks have a standing height wood surface, providing a place to rest a phone or keys while the bike is being secured. Lights and litters have rounded edges made to be friendly to users and passersby.
MultipliCITY also considers the environment, adds Landscape Forms. LED lights are solar-powered. Aluminum parts contain recycled content and are fully recyclable. Flat shipping and local assembly lower the carbon footprint of internationally traded product. Multiplicity is available fully assembled or in flat pack shipping and local assembly for domestic and International markets.
MultipliCITY was engineered to offer a new, unique approach to site furniture for a global market, creating people-centered spaces that transcend national, regional and cultural boundaries. “For me, a product has to respond to a certain ethos of a time,” Yves Behar says. “We designed MultipliCITY to respond with emotional intelligence, as well as functional intelligence, to the world we inhabit today.”
The Fuseproject site offers a video overview of the creation of the innovative products.
For more information, see the Landscape Forms Web site as well as their FMLink ad .
