Streetscape furniture for Mori Building Company, Tokyo

date: 2003

Roppongi Hills, one of the largest private building developments in Japan opened in Tokyo at May 8, 2003. The 11 hectare space will give Tokyo a much needed Cultural Center complete with an art museum, hotel, cinema, restaurants, offices and residential towers.

One of the most eye-catching aspects of Roppongi Hills is its incorporation of public art and design into the urban landscape. Droog was one of the eleven designers and architects, among them: Ron Arad, Andrea Branzi, Toyo Ito, Jasper Morrison, Thomas Sandell, Tokujin Yoshioka and Shigeru Uchida, that were approached to develop an idea for street furniture: ‘a resting place exploring the images of forest in urban life’.
 

Droog selected Jurgen Bey for this commission. Bey got a strip of 7 m long, 1.25 m wide and a height of 1.65 m. The designer allowed himself to be inspired by the different positions people assume on the street. He made pictures of them and observed how they moved and took different positions during the day. Next he selects human silhouettes and arranges them to form a natural order in time. Computer morphing from one position to the next er the available 7 metres produces the basic bench shape. After that Bey adds the shapes of old furniture. The bench, called Day tripper, is made of Polyurethane foam covered with glass reinforced Polyester with a silk screen flower pattern.