FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 24, 2013

New Prototype Ushers in Next Evolution of Site Furniture
Urban design think tank develops new tool for expanding the use of movable site furniture

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Aug. 16, 2013) — The AGILE Landscape Project (TALP) recently unveiled its first prototype of their revolutionary concept for securing movable site furniture. The CHAIR>bench (chair greater than bench) debuted in Nashville at the Tennessee Chapter of the American Institute of Architect’s annual conference and expo. The project demonstrates a new patent pending track and sled technology that addresses movable site furniture’s inherent Achilles’ heel—mobility—by creating a securable, scalable and flexible platform that can accept nearly any table, chair or other site furniture element that would benefit from being mobile.

The system developed by TALP uses an embedded track that serves as the infrastructure for site furniture to plug into through the use of the sled and pin technology. The “plug and play” approach allows nearly any table and chair design to incorporate the required hardware. Once attached to the system, it prevents theft of the furniture while maintaining freedom of movement along the track’s alignment and 360 degrees on the sled’s axis. The system is infinitely scalable and can take on nearly any configuration.

Brian Phelps, director of The AGILE Landscape Project, explained the system addresses the frustration many designers experience when wanting to use movable furniture.

 “In school, William Whyte’s Social Life of Small Urban Spaces opened my eyes to anatomy of great public space. One of the most wonderful tools was movable tables and chairs,” said Phelps. “In practice, it wasn’t so easy to use them. Owners are often worried about them walking off. Too often the end result is fixed seating and ultimately the quality of our public spaces suffer. The track and sled system was a direct response to this.”

The CHAIR>bench also explores intelligent spaces that can respond to stimulus in the landscape. The project does this through an embedded sensor network that tracks the location of the chairs. The network enables the piece to respond to specific configurations and raise awareness about movable seating through audio clips that are played based on these arrangements.

TALP is currently looking for partners to bring the system to market and establish it as a another choice for designers alongside today’s options such as embedded, surface mounted and freestanding furniture.

Currently, the CHAIR>Bench will be displayed in and around the Nashville area over the next several months including, weather dependent, Park(ing) Day Sept. 20 in downtown Nashville and Nashville’s first Mini Maker Faire at the Adventure Science Center Sept. 21. Upcoming locations can be found on TALP’s website at theagilelandscape.com.

About The AGILE Landscape Project

The AGILE Landscape Project is a think tank dedicated to exploring urban design solutions that improve cities and public space through ADAPTIVE GENERATIVE and INTELLIGENT LANDSCAPE EXPERIMENTATION. TALP was inspired by the agile software model and lean startup methodology. In this vein, it utilizes physical and iterative prototypes of its concepts with the aim of bringing products to the urban design marketplace. The project is led by Brian Phelps, a landscape architect and urban designer in Nashville, Tenn. CHAIR>bench is TALP’s first project demonstrating the track and sled technology (patent pending) for securing movable site furniture. For more information visit theagilelandscape.com.

Contact:
Brian Phelps
bphelps at theagilelandscape dot com
Phone: 615.739.1776