Line 1 Street Furniture

Cemusa commissioned Grimshaw to design a new range of street furniture that was flexible enough to allow specifying local authorities to customise the furniture and emphasise their regional identity. Billings Jackson developed the solution.

The concept is based on a set of highly engineered components – a kit of parts - that can be used in various combinations to achieve flexibility and continuity throughout the entire range. The basic principle is that where maintenance is necessary due to accident or damage, only the affected component need be replaced. This minimises costs as well as the time that the furniture is out of commission.

The franchise period for street furniture is often up to fifteen years and the shelters can be relocated several times during their lifetime, so being able to reuse parts is an important consideration. The high specification and mutual compatibility of the components greatly helps to achieve a positive environmental impact.

The roof for the bus shelter in this range comprises individual glass panels and cast aluminium arms. A symmetrically extruded aluminium beam supplies all the fixing points to support either a double or single sided roof and accommodates all services. These include wire management, rainwater drainage and lighting. This integrated solution is particularly responsive to site-specific installation problems.

The arms, which support the bus shelter glazing, are manufactured using a lost wax, or investment, casting process. Each and every component is made from an individual wax casting which is then melted or ‘lost’ during the next stage of production. This process is self-finishing and more accurate than sand casting. This, along with the fact that stainless steel is long lasting and easily renovated, makes the process a very economical one.

Flexible seating options are made possible by a kit of parts approach. The supporting beam, which can function by itself as a perch, can accommodate any combination of single or back-to-back seating modules.

The team developed an advertising column as an addition to Line 1. The basic element of the design is a cartridge that forms the advertising surface. The design allows for modulation, making it possible to create single, double, triple or quadruple-faced columns by changing the number of cartridges used. These columns incorporate facilities such as toilets, recycling units, telephones or vending machines in their interiors.

Line 1 street furniture can be found on the streets of Brasilia, Barcelona, Madrid, Genoa, Rio, Bilboa and San Antonio.