New street furniture gracing Sydney has been given the tick of approval from some of the world’s most stylish people, receiving top honours at the prestigious Red Dot Design Awards.
The range of nine pieces designed by Tzannes in collaboration with Sydney’s council and Australian Built Urban Designs (ABUD) took out the world’s most prestigious design awards in the Product category for 2016.
The street furniture, fabricated locally by Sydney company ABUD, were among 5,214 submissions from 57 countries. The nine pieces in the new collection – a seat with arm rests, pedestrian light pole, three bollards, bubbler, tree guard, tree grate and a bin – have been installed at Barangaroo and Green Square, a $13 billion urban redevelopment area. It will also feature along the transformed George Street pedestrian boulevard and the revitalised Darling Harbour precinct.
The Red Dot Award design prize is awarded by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Essen, Germany and is one of the world’s largest design competitions. Past winners include Apple, BMW, Bose and Porsche, with this year’s prizes judged by the likes of Ferrari and Bullet Train designer Kiyoyuki Okuyama, celebrity shoemaker Jimmy Choo and tactile and touch interface guru Masayo Ave.
Tzannes Design Director, Alec Tzannes, says the design elements were chosen to echo Sydney’s vibrant physical and cultural landscape.
“Tzannes’ objective was to create a family of elements reflecting Sydney’s unique cultural and urban context inspired by, among other things, the city’s waterfront industrial heritage, the Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Opera House, and our outdoor lifestyle and culture,” he says.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore says the furniture forms part of the council’s plans to attract more people to the city’s streets, which also include a $50 million program to light up and beautify footpaths, the installation of 62 new smartpoles with LED lights and the $220 million pedestrianisation of George Street through the Sydney Light Rail Project.
“By improving the accessibility and liveability of our city, we encourage people to treat our streets as destinations, relax, linger and have an experience that is pleasant and worth repeating,” she says. “By increasing foot traffic, we are also further supporting local businesses.”
The new street furniture installations have an allocated budget of $300,000 a year over the next 10 years.
The new models will replace a number of different styles dotted across the City of Sydney area, which is the result of past local government amalgamations.
Photos: City of Sydney