Archive for January, 2010

“Urban Adapter” – New Urban Street Furniture for Hong Kong

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

Rocker Lange Architects are participating in this year’s Hong Kong & Shenzhen bi-city biennale with their proposal for a new urban furniture concept.

Urban Adapter, detail, Rocker Lange Architects, Hong Kong & Shenzhen biennale, Christian J Lange, Urban furniture, sculpture bench

Hong Kong’s urban furniture contains multiple functional objects. Each of them belongs to a different set of formal expression or is part of a different style. While variation is obvious in the style mix of Hong Kong’s public furniture, there is a lack of uniformity in the formal expression that could foster a unique Hong Kong identity..


Urban Adapter, Urban furniture, parametric bench, Rocker Lange Architects, Hong Kong Shenzhen biennale, Christian J Lange, sculpture bench

This design proposal for a contemporary city bench seeks to understand the concept of street furniture as a holistic design problem. Instead of offering only one single static design, this scheme suggests multiple varying solutions that meet specific fitness criteria.
Urban Adapter, Parametric Prototype, sculptural bench, family, Rocker Lange Architects, Hong Kong Shenzhen biennale, Christian J Lange, sculpture bench The project “Urban Adapter” is based on a digital parametric model. At its core the model utilizes explicit site information and programmatic data to react and interact with its environment. That way the model’s DNA structure is capable of producing a variety of unique furniture results. Together they generate an endless family of new urban bench furniture.

Urban Adapter, Parametric Prototype, Urban furniture, Rocker Lange Architects, Hong Kong & Shenzhen biennale, Christian J LangeRather than having a fixed form the members of the family can adapt to different site conditions and programmatic needs. While all of the designs have the ability to serve as a seating element, some have additional programmatic values added, such as recycling containers, flower buckets or billboards serving for advertisement or educational purposes. The generated functional surface invites the user to new seating and communication arrangements and establishes a unique identity for the urban space of Hong Kong.

Urban Adapter, Urban furniture, night shot, sculptural bench, Rocker Lange Architects, Hong Kong & Shenzhen biennale, Christian J Lange, sculpture bench