London Festival of Architecture announces winning teams for Royal Docks bench competition

Five playful benches will be providing a seat — and bringing a smile — to the Royal Docks this month.

In collaboration with the London Festival of Architecture, we offered emerging architects and designers the chance to create a bench for the area, and we’re delighted to announce our winners:

The interactive and disruptive work of McCloy + Muchemwa
A tactile creation by Urban Radicals with Sanne Visser
The practical yet playful Portia Malik
A place for contemplation by studioWho
Bold and versatile work by Parallel Collective

The final designs will be revealed when the pieces are installed in the coming weeks, and will then be in place for a year, welcoming visitors in the run-up to the London Festival of Architecture in 2020.

The LFA says, “The Pews and Perches project aims to demonstrate how public realm interventions, even at a small scale, can positively impact on people’s experience of their surroundings, providing visitors with a fun and creative new series of spaces to gather on the waterfront.”

Look out for some handy and surprising seats springing up across the area; they’re a funny and carefully-considered collection, selected for their thoughtful and fresh response to the Royal Docks.