Toronto street furniture designers roll out the bins to win
March 30th, 2007 Category Furniture
Proposals for the city’s new “street furniture” – litter bins, benches, transit shelters and newspaper boxes – have been released, and plans call for the winning design to be rolled out next spring.
The three firms bidding – Astral Media Outdoor, CBS Outdoor Canada and Clear Channel Outdoor Canada – had an opportunity to show off their products yesterday. The winner will place 25,000 items of street furniture on sidewalks. (View concepts and vote for your favourite.)
Designer Jeremy Kramer’s team of six worked three months coming up with two lines for Astral. The TOstreetsmart 100 Series includes a bus shelter similar to one already on the streets, but this version has solar-powered lighting, low-glare glass, more seats and a thinner advertising display.
“Given the fact the city has 1,000 of those on the street, it seemed like a very viable direction for the city,” Kramer said.
His litter bin has a foot pedal to open the flap, a hygienic idea first adopted in Madrid but a first for North America.
Kramer’s design theme continues with bike racks he insists are unbreakable, bike lockers, public toilets (the city is contemplating installing up to 20), message centres for postering, information pillars and newspaper boxes.
Clear Channel and its Toronto partners, including Zeidler Partnership Architects and Rogers Communications, wanted to integrate a tree theme into its models, especially the bus shelters, said Paul Seaman, the company’s vice-president of real estate and public affairs.
“Toronto is one of few cities in North America with a tremendous number of trees. The city wanted something iconic … and we wanted a theme that best reflected Toronto.”
A representative for CBS Outdoor Canada’s bid could not be reached for comment.
Cost estimates for each of the proposals, along with evaluations by three independent judges, will be in a report next month to the city’s executive committee.
Information from: www.thestar.com