A SPARK OF INSPIRATION
15 Feb 2018
The team at SPARK were commissioned to deliver a range of bespoke furniture to the Bank Street and Tomham Mall area, including a custom-designed brass feature armrest.
Bank Street and Tomham Mall in Adelaide are lively thoroughfares for many businesses and visitors due to the surrounding office blocks and entertainment precincts. The Adelaide City Council endeavoured to develop these areas with the goal to make them people-centric while keeping with the commercial imperatives. These areas would feature new paving, lighting and seating.
SPARK Furniture collaborated closely with the urban design team at the ACC to create a set of unique, interesting and functional seating, from a selection of materials provided by the council.
Of particular focus was the innovative brass armrest that would act as the feature point of the outdoor furniture. SPARK, through their design lab, prototyped and tested a number of brass alternatives and systems in order to create the final design.
They encountered two key issues in the design process. The first was that it must be crafted in a way that would make it impossible to be stolen or tampered with. The second was to devise a way to bend the thick and notoriously brittle metal into the shape the team was after without it cracking or breaking. The team at SPARK established a system of heat treatment that would allow for the level of bending that was required without the metal being ruined.
The armrest could therefore be attached to an ingenious invisible framing that provides a discrete, stable foundation that is able to withstand life on the streets.
The seats now rest comfortably atop green granite plinths and can be easily removed and returned should the need arise through a clever array of concealed fixtures.
SPARK deliver over 25 years of experience as a street furniture specialist and take great pride in their work. They were able to overcome many obstacles throughout the construction and installation of the furniture at Bank Street and Tomham Mall to deliver a stylish and practical range that the ACC was very pleased with.
Why not ask SPARK to take the risk out of your next project?