i&sd architecture+design projects

'Heron' Series Urban Furniture

Special Mention,
Neri Urban Furniture Award 2003

Italy, 2003

A family of bollards, bus shelters and light poles. Neri Spa, a member of the Targetti group, is a leading Italian urban furniture producer.

Often, the contemporary taste rejects what is perceived as the dryness of modern, functional products, favouring instead replays of old expressions which for all their beauty are not rooted anymore in our time. Our project tries to bridge this gap, and to be lively and colourful while using a clearly contemporary language.
We chose to start with the study of the bird body, a perfect expression of natural elegance and functionality (hence the ‘Heron’ name of our design). Abstracted and brought to the essence, the natural shapes keep their richness and power of suggestion when applied to a new function and material.
We found the cast iron as particularly well suited for this approach. Its plasticity was from the beginning at the core of our design.

The family of the Heron Series can be easily completed with other urban furniture objects with different functions.

The project was shortlisted in the Neri Award Competition 2003, patented by Neri Spa, and is ready for production.

The objects are realised in cast iron.



				'Heron' Series Urban Furniture Special Mention, Neri Urban Furniture Award 2003 Italy, 2003 A family of bollards, bus shelters and light poles. Neri Spa, a member of the Targetti group, is a leading Italian urban furniture producer. Often, the contemporary taste rejects what is perceived as the dryness of modern, functional products, favouring instead replays of old expressions which for all their beauty are not rooted anymore in our time. Our project tries to bridge this gap, and to be lively and colourful while using a clearly contemporary language. We chose to start with the study of the bird body, a perfect expression of natural elegance and functionality (hence the ‘Heron’ name of our design). Abstracted and brought to the essence, the natural shapes keep their richness and power of suggestion when applied to a new function and material. We found the cast iron as particularly well suited for this approach. Its plasticity was from the beginning at the core of our design. The family of the Heron Series can be easily completed with other urban furniture objects with different functions. The project was shortlisted in the Neri Award Competition 2003, patented by Neri Spa, and is ready for production. The objects are realised in cast iron.