City Benches | London Festival of Architecture 2021

It’s been said that ‘London streets are paved with gold’, but aren’t they also gilded with the riches of the lunch break?

I was delighted to be selected as one of the designers for the 2021 City Benches programme, part of the London Festival of Architecture. My bench, manufactured in collaboration with bespoke concrete specialists Smith & Goat, was installed on Cheapside in the City of London for three months, sitting in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral. After the festival, the bench was donated to Kingsford Community School, Newham, London.

My design takes fragments of litter – coffee cups, plastic bottles, takeaway packaging etc – and seals these within concrete and resin, elevating a litter strewn surface into terrazzo. By repurposing the detritus of the transient commuter city into a new object of permanence and status, Do you care about your city? is a reminder that litter is not temporary, and that while much of what we throw out every day is single-use, it still has a lasting impact on our streets and environment.

For more information on my bench, and the others from the 2021 series, check out these articles:

London Festival of Architecture – City Benches 2021

Dezeen – Emerging designers brighten London’s streets with playful City Benches 

Wallpaper* – City Benches competition winners announced in London

The project was also featured in the inaugural edition of ArchitectureLGBT Scotland’s zine, which can be viewed here

Photography is by Agnese Sanvito (images 1, 3, 5) and Greig Pirrie (images 2, 4)