The Mondo, Penrith (1)

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The Mondo, Penrith
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• A custom furniture suite brings light and life to
  a renewed outdoor space at the Penrith Civic Arts
  Precinct, also known as the Mondo, a small urban
  space where the popular Westfield Penrith, the
  Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre and
  Penrith City Councils Civic Centre
  meet.Landscape Architect OCULUS, responding to a
  brief from Penrith City Council, collaborated
  with Street Furniture Australia on a new
  site-specific furniture range.

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An excerpt from the brief

• Seating creates a comfortable, useable, and
  active public environment where people can rest,
  socialise, eat, read, or people-watch. It is a
  simple gesture that can go far to create an
  important sense of place. Seating creates places
  where people can see and be seen. This ability to
  entice people to linger is the hallmark of great
  and successful public spaces.

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• The public domain vision for Penriths city
  centre is founded on a place-making approach, and
  aims to create places that are honest, easy and
  generous,' says Karin Schicht, Landscape
  Architecture Supervisor with Penrith City
  Council.
• This formed the basis of Councils brief to
  design a new suite of seating to be integrated
  with the concept design for the space.

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• The team created a series of five seats, in 10
  different iterations.
• Each seat features spotted gum battens and
  is mounted on a concrete plinth. Some include LED
  lighting strips for down-lighting, and one
  tabletop has a chessboard. Art panels have also
  been integrated into some of the seating.

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• We wanted to reflect Penrith-ness in the
  seats, celebrating the connection between people
  and place, says Schicht.
• To this end, place-making and public art
  consultancy ARTSCAPE worked with OCULUS and
  Penrith City Council to explore artistic motifs
  and graphics to assist with place-branding,
  drawing out themes which related to
  Penrith-ness, and contributed to the
  composition and illumination of the panels.

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• We looked at how a multi-dimensional seating
  arrangement could provide opportunities for
  self-expression, given the Mondo is located next
  to a performance venue, says David Cianci,
  Managing Director of ARTSCAPE. The images are
  backlit with LED lighting strips, using an opal
  coloured vinyl substrate to diffuse light and
  allow them to glow at night. The art component
  of the seats represents the multifaceted life of
  the city and works thematically with the modular
  seating design, says Simon Trick, Senior
  Landscape Architect with OCULUS.

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• Penrith is made up of a multitude of people with
  diverse backgrounds, stories, ideas, experiences
  and talents Like how an image is made up of a
  multitude of pixels that create an entire
  picture, we understand Penrith to be made up of
  individual characters who contribute to the
  entire character of Penrith, he says.
• We took this concept of pixelation as a
  generator for our design development and created
  a number of forms that could interlock, rotate
  and flip to create numerous configurations, while
  still being simple to manufacture in a modular
  manner. We took this same theme with the creation
  of the artworks.

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• Another key design consideration in the brief was
  for seating to be intergenerational and
  inclusive, meeting Councils accessibility
  targets. This included a minimum of 40 per cent
  of seating with backs and armrests, two seat
  heights (450mm and 500mm) and ensuring adjacent
  wheelchair spaces to enable in-line seating.
  Penrith City Council worked closely with Street
  Furniture Australia to further develop
  the furniture to be suitable for manufacture.

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• The attention to detail and aim for quality is
  a testament to the Street Furniture Australia
  team, says Schicht.
• Street Furniture Australia were very helpful in
  assisting and providing advice on the
  buildability and delivery of the designs,
  adds Trick.
• The Street Furniture Australia team also tested
  and developed solutions for wiring each concrete
  plinth, with the careful positioning of
  voids. The creation and testing of prototypes was
  extremely helpful in ironing out nuisances before
  we went into full production.

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•  resulting furniture, says Trick, provides a
  distinct sense of identity to the Mondo. The
  community has thoroughly welcomed the new vibrant
  space and it sees a high volume of people
  occupying the area to eat their lunch, wait for a
  performance at the theatre, meet up with friends,
  enjoy the sunshine, play some chess, check their
  phones, jump from seat to seat and generally
  enjoy a revitalised and unique space for
  Penrith, he says.

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• Frame Bin Enclosures, with geometric
  perforations, support the seating in this
  refreshed local hotspot. Seeing the different
  ways the public is interacting with the new space
  has been a pleasure, says Schicht.

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• Whether a solo lunch-goer, weary parents with
  curious toddlers taking time-out from shopping,
  or small groups meeting and socialising, the
  seating delivers choice, flexibility and is
  inherently Penrith,
• It is a constant delight to witness the many
  ways the community has adapted to and embraced
  this place. They have made it their own.

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• To know more update, visit us

http//streetfurniture.com/au/