Battery Conservancy Chair Design Competition Entry: A Seat for the Seasons

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Perspective – “Seat for the Seasons” outdoor seating prototype along the new Battery Green oval

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Outdoor Seating Prototype – unfolding sequence

The Battery Conservancy in Lower Manhattan has announced the results of their 2012 Draw Up A Chair Competition.  The competition, launched last fall, seeks to identify a winning permanent outdoor chair design for Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, New York City.  According to the Conservancy website:

The design competition has three phases. The first phase is an open design competition. In the second phase, the jury will select Top Designs and Finalists, which will be featured online and on exhibition banners in the park. The Battery Conservancy will develop full-scale prototypes of the Finalists’ Designs and has been invited by Design Miami/ to exhibit these prototypes. In the third phase, the winner(s) will be awarded a cash prize and their designs will go into fabrication for use in the new Battery Green, a 3-acre oval at the park’s Broadway entrance, scheduled to open in 2014.

This is a great step forward in the post-Hurricane Sandy revival of the Lower Manhattan area.  Hearty congratulations to the Conservancy, the competition finalists and the top 50 designs.

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Draw Up a Chair Competition Board – “A Chair for the Seasons,” copyright Derrick Choi AIA & XChange Architects LLC

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Process book diagram of first principles – copyright Derrick Choi AIA & XChange Architects LLC

We have posted some of our studio’s ideas and one of the submission boards we prepared to the competition.

Entitled, “A Seat for the Seasons,” our concept for a seating prototype integrates the repurposed wood bench slat stock with a high-density polyethylene seating shell.  The end result is a new flexible outdoor furniture concept that would be comfortable, yet vastly reconfigurable for myriad Battery Green events and resilient enough to operate throughout the year in the Battery.

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Perspective – chair prototype in its retracted setting & curvilinear configuration by the East Coast Memorial

All photographs, images and drawings copyright XChange Architects LLC, unless otherwise noted.

Take Back the Streets: Time to Renew Your Outdoor Seating Permits

OneFundFlag-smIn acknowledgement of the recent events in Boston, Cambridge, and Watertown, our thoughts go out to the affected and we owe a debt of gratitude to our region’s resilient citizenry, first-responders and law enforcement officials. Please consider making a contribution to the One Fund to aid those affected by the events of April 15, 2013 in Boston http://onefundboston.org/

The lock-down in the Greater Boston area was challenging, but proved to be a necessary inconvenience. Ironically, we were scheduled to meet with our client today, Yoki Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar, in Central Square in the City of Cambridge, to update a sidewalk seating concept requiring approval by the Department of Public Works for the spring-summer outdoor seating season.

For our hospitality clients, please check with your local building and planning officials to confirm permitting requirements for outdoor restaurant seating.  The criteria may include service restrictions (especially with alcohol being served), seating requirements (typically limited by available restroom fixtures), structural and dimensional requirements for outdoor dividers, exterior signage, lighting, plantings and applicable insurance coverage.

Let’s take back our streets in the Greater Boston Area.

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An earlier outdoor seating concept for 485 Massachusetts Avenue

About the project – XChange Architects was invited by Yoki’s management team to develop a cost-effective design solution for their second restaurant that could 1) absorb the extant interior and building systems of a previous restaurant and 2) help develop a new visual and graphic identity that could be standardized and deployed in future roll-outs. The 3,000 SF interior renovation was completed in August 2012.

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View of main sake bar. Copyright Roberto Farren Photography, 2012

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Perspective view – Sushi Bar

CREDITS

Photography – Roberto Farren Photography

Electrical engineer – BLW Engineers, Inc.

All photographs, images and drawings copyright XChange Architects LLC, unless otherwise noted.