NYC Parks & Battery Conservancy Announce Battery Chair Competition Finalists

NYC Parks and The Battery Conservancy today announced the five Battery Chair Finalists in the first-ever design competition to create a mobile, outdoor chair for New York City's parks. The winning chair design will be announced in June and be awarded a $10,000 prize and, with sponsorship from generous donors, will be fabricated for use on the Battery Green, a three-acre oval lawn currently in construction in the Battery - the much visited New York City park at Manhattan's southern tip.

"NYC Parks is always looking for innovative ways to make our public spaces greener, greater, and more accessible to New Yorkers and visitors alike," said NYC Parks Commissioner Veronica M. White. "The Battery's competition to create a mobile, outdoor chair reflects our city's focus on great design, and at the contest's conclusion will present parkgoers with another way to enjoy their parks."

This historic competition began on July 31, 2012, when The Battery Conservancy Americas Design Competition made an open call for designs from students and professionals from North, Central, and South America. By November 2012, the competition resulted in 679 designs submitted by over 1,500 designers from 15 countries.

The competition had three goals: create a distinctive, movable chair to be used on the Battery Green? encourage innovative design in New York City's parks? and promote the flow of cross-cultural ideas throughout the Americas. The five finalists are from Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States.

The Five Battery Chair Finalists are:
Fleurt - Andrew Jones Design: Andrew Jones, Toronto, Canada
Maple Chair - Maria Camarena Design: Maria Camarena Bernard, Zapopan, Mexico
Pivot Chair - Independent Design Group: Simon Kristak & Aidan Jamison, Brooklyn, USA
South Chair - Jason Bird, Redwood City, USA
U Rock - Pitanga: Davi Deusdara, ÉRica Martins, Tais Costa & Rafael Studart Alencar Falcão, Brazil

The Battery Conservancy will fund full-scale prototypes of the finalists' designs. The five prototypes will be presented in the Castle Clinton National Monument - located in the heart of the historic Battery - from April through June 2014. There, the public will be able to view, sit, and test each chair for comfort, enjoyment, and durability.

"The Battery Conservancy's Americas Design Competition created an opportunity to excite and challenge the academic and professional design communities to re-imagine public outdoor seating," said Warrie Price, President of The Battery Conservancy. "The Battery looks forward to translating this design experience into real, versatile, movable chairs for millions of visitors to use as they enjoy the magnificent Battery Green."

For the past six months, the top 50 designs from 9 counties were exhibited in an online gallery and outdoors at The Battery, giving millions of visitors the opportunity to see innovative ideas from both professional and student designers.

The Five Battery Chair Finalists all use durable, lightweight, and recyclable materials, but each offers a unique experience. Fleurt imagines sun-loving flowers floating in a field. Canadian designer Andrew Jones intended for this archetypal floral form to be constantly rearranged by visitors, creating a "memorable, diaphanous landscape." The Maple chair, by Maria Camarena Bernard of Mexico, is cut and folded from a single sheet of aluminum. Silver maple leaves pattern the chair's "soft and subtle shape." The Pivot Chair, designed by the Brooklyn based Independent Design Group, offers a multidimensional sitting experience: a visitor can either sit upright or recline? as the designers describe, the chair's flat surfaces can also double as tabletops for "food, drinks, or even a laptop for a lunch-hour recess." The South Chair, in the words of designer Jason Bird, offers a contemporary form with "soft curves, flexible backrest, and color options" which provide both "a playful aesthetic and comfortable seat." U Rock, a seat developed by a design team from Brazil using recycled materials, is stationary in one position and can be turned upside down to rock back and forth. As the design team says, "A chair that gives you the option to sit still or just have some fun."

To develop the first movable chair for a New York City park, The Battery Conservancy enlisted world-renowned jurors, a dynamic board of advisers, international media partners and comments and feedback from the public. The distinguished jurors are Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator, Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Architecture? Allison Arieff, design writer, The New York Times, Editor, The Urbanist? Fernando Campana and Humberto Campana, designers, Sao Paulo? Rob Forbes, Founder of Design Within Reach and CEO of Public Bikes? and Mario Schjetnan, Co-Founder & Director of Mario Schjetnan/Grupo de Diseño Urbano, Mexico City.

To see the Five Battery Chair Finalists, please visit www.thebattery.org.