A NEW TOOL FOR EXPANDING THE USE OF MOVABLE SITE FURNITURE 

“…a wonderful invention – the movable chair…the big asset is moveability. Chairs enlarge choice: to move into the sun, out of it, to make room for groups, move away from them. The possibility of choice is as important as the exercise of it…There declarations of autonomy to one self, and rather satisfying.”

–William H. Whyte, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces

The CHAIR>bench is the AGILE Landscape’s first project. The project addresses movable seating’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.

Despite the benefits of movable site furniture to adapt to the needs of the user and create lively dynamic spaces, urban designers reluctantly must use immobile furniture or other undesirable arrangements such as fixing table to the pavement and cabling the chairs to its center. CHAIR>bench offers a solution that eliminates the concern of the chair being stolen while providing the relative freedom of movement of traditional movable site furniture.

The track and sled system technology (patent pending) demonstrated by the project facilitates a wider use of movable site furniture in the landscape. The attached site furniture can be moved anywhere on the track and be rotated 360 degrees on the sled’s central axis. The system can be deployed at any scale and configuration. The alignment of the track can also take on practically any desirable shape.

The current prototype is a proof of concept for various embodiments. They include, but are not limited to, the following:

Freestanding Platform (Surface Mounted). Like the CHAIR>bench project, the platform can be constructed using a durable material (i.e. stainless steel) with the tracks slotted into it. The platform can be secured to the ground while still allowing the freedom of movement of the site furniture welded to the sled. The size and configuration of the platform and/or the track can be of any size and shape. The system could also be integrated into a custom parklet where the mobility and security is desired.

Permanent Embedded Track in Pavement. In addition to a freestanding platform utilizing a track made from stainless steel or other non-corrosive material, the technology can be permanently embedded horizontally in the pavement to allow tables and chairs attached to the sled to be secured and movable. By embedding or mounting the track into or on the face of a vertical surface such as amphitheater seating or a seat wall, a table can be secured to allow it to be moved easily into position or out of the way. In addition, the track can utilize curbs or other features to allow for tables and chairs to be moved along the track and have a 180 degree movement.

In all embodiments, the site furniture can be changed out or removed easily as the needs of the space change.

INTERACTIVITY AND METRICS 

The CHAIR>bench project further engages the public and demonstrates the future of smart spaces through the use of an network of sensors embedded within it. The network provides real-time feedback of how much the space is used and the movement of the chairs. This system can provide helpful metrics to designers and managers of permanent public spaces and/or tactical urbanism environments for determining the success of spaces  In addition, this data can be used to control the environment around the user and provide a means for responding to the users. The project will play selected audio clips when the chairs are arranged in specific positions. Information and instructions regarding these arrangements can be found in the “How to Use It” section of this site.