For the first time in Australia, architects and designers are able to download plans, elevations and 3D models of Street Furniture Australia products.

Our new website features a Designer Portal, a comprehensive CAD library of benches, tables, litter containers, bollards, bicycle stands, drinking fountains, tree surrounds and more.

Designer Portal contains DWG and SKP formats to insert into your specifications.

If you would like 24-hour access to Street Furniture CAD files, apply here for login access

Access is granted to approved applicants only.

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A special interview with Darrel Conybeare and Bill Morrison about the beginnings of Street Furniture Australia.

Image: Classic Plaza Seat, first designed in 1974.

Darrel Conybeare – Founding Director

Can you tell us a bit about your background?

I graduated in architecture with first Class Honours and the University Medal at the University of Sydney in 1962. I then went on to gain Masters degrees in Architecture and City Planning in the Civic Design Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

I’ve worked in American architectural practices Wallace McHarg, Roberts & Todd, a local government planning department as Marin County Urban Designer and in the office of Ray & Charles Eames as the Project Design Director of the National Fisheries Centre and in the Australian architectural practices McConnel Smith & Johnson, Collard Clarke & Jackson, Clarke Gazzard, Urban Systems Corporation before jointly established Planning Workshop Pty Ltd in 1971 and practiced as an architect and urban designer for 10 years.

I established Conybeare Morrison (CM+) in 1980 with Bill Morrison whose career closely paralleled mine. In addition, I completed Action Plans for the Council of the City of Sydney including Martin Place Extension, Kings Cross Precinct and devised Streetscape Improvement Progam, and was also involved in establishing similar planning and design programmes in Melbourne including Flinders Walk, Banana Alley and reactivation of the little laneways.

How and when did you get into the outdoor furniture business?

In the lead up to the 1988 Bicentenary Celebrations, the urban design arm of the Conybeare Morrison (CM+) architectural practice was commissioned to assist the NSW Government Architect’s Office to undertake the design of the public waterfront environment of Circular Quay and Macquarie Street/Queens Square.

The sourcing of high quality locally designed and produced street furniture proved an impossible task. Only imported products were available at that time, CM+ suggested the possible use of a ‘Plaza Seat‘ that the firm had successfully designed and used for the City Walk project in Canberra City Centre in 1979.

The Premier, Neville Wran, and the Assistant Government Architect, Andrew Andersons, inspected a prototype that Conybeare Morrison made and installed for testing in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Macquarie Street frontage. This seat was recommended for use on these major projects and subsequently manufactured under licence.

In 1986 Street Furniture Australia Pty Ltd was founded and established in the second floor of a disused Taubman’s paint factory in St Peters, Sydney. Its initial offering was the Plaza seat soon followed by a bench, litter bin, bollard and drinking fountain to complete an integrated family of public realm furniture with its own Australian design integrity.

Inspiration for the form of the Plaza Seat has its genesis in the slatted seats of Sydney’s toast-rack trams that both I and Bill regularly rode as we grew up in suburban Sydney.

Can you tell us a bit about the company?

Street Furniture Australia is a boutique design and production house employing a specialist team of salespeople, designers, prototype engineers, project managers and production workers. It is a two family business.

Street Furniture has been awarded a number of professional design awards in recognition of the contribution made by its products collection. These include:

• The Fountain Head – Royal Society of Arts, 1998
• Street Furniture (Shared) – Lloyd Rees Award for Outstanding Urban Design RAIA (NSW Chapter), 1988
• Queen Victoria Bus Shelters – Merit Award in Urban Design RAIA (NSW Chapter), 1987

What has been your career highlight to date?

To be part of the team that has successfully established a high quality collection of public space furniture options under a brand that can now stand its ground in any urban setting in the world. Street Furniture products are designed to be mass produced, affordable, comfortable and satisfying to all users.

The company’s mission is to continue to refine its existing range and its identity, extending the brand’s unique offering into other untapped markets.

What does the company have planned?

Street Furniture supported the establishment of the town of Bundanoon as Australia’s first ‘Bottled Water Free Town’. It maintains its sponsorship of ‘Go Tap,’ Jon Dee’s Do Something initiative to reduce the impact of bottle water receptacles on the environment. Street Furniture’s filtered watered stations are being installed in remote indigenous communities, at several universities and other urban precincts throughout Australia.

Bill Morrison – Founding Director

Can you tell us a bit about your background?

I graduated in architecture in 1965 from the University of Sydney. At that time little consideration was given to the public domain, and as fresh young graduates we set out to make our mark in the built world.

My early years were spent as a Commonwealth Cadet, bonded to the Commonwealth Department of Works. When I finally travelled, I headed towards London where I worked for two years with Sir William Holford and Partners, a conservative British practice which had been providing planning advice in Canberra. My next working experience was with quite a different firm, an energetic young group known as the Farrell Grimshaw Partnership.

On return to Australia in 1974, I joined Planning Workshop to work with Darrel and together developed the architectural arm of this multi-disciplinary practice. In 1980 we established Conybeare Morrison and Partners (now practising as Conybeare Morrison International or CM+), in 1986 Street Furniture Australia and in 1990 together with Oi Choong, Context Landscape Design.

How did you get into the street furniture business?

We were engaged in 1978 to undertake a project in Canberra’s Civic involving the closure and paving of streets to become a pedestrian mall. It was to be called City Walk. At that time there were no furniture products available which we considered suitable for inclusion so we set about designing a seat which we branded the ‘CM Plaza’. It was to become the flagship of our venture, Street Furniture Australia, when we were again recommending appropriate ‘Sydney’ style furniture to the Public Works Department and Premier Wran for incorporation in Macquarie Street and Circular Quay Bicentennial Improvement Programmes. So we stuck our necks out, made a sample in one of the staff’s backyards for the Premier to sit on, and Street Furniture Australia was born.

What has been your career highlight to date?

Most definitely being at the forefront of urban design and public area improvements. During the early years of our professional practice people would ask, ‘What is urban design?’ Now it is a commonly accepted term and is practised in addition to architects, by landscape architects, planners and engineers, with varying degrees of success.

Together with this is the fact that in some way we influenced a whole industry through our beliefs about comfort and elegance in the public domain. But we still enjoy leadership in the field, which is recognised by the significant number of prestigious national and international project awards and our sales record across many countries and cultures.

What, in your opinion, has contributed to the success of Street Furniture?

We have always attempted to be ahead of the field by being innovative and creative with new products, while always maintaining the highest quality and providing excellent customer service.

But most importantly we have built, over time, a highly skilled and dedicated team who are taking the business to new levels with an incredible enthusiasm for the product and our urban design philosophy.

What does Street Furniture have planned?

We are constantly seeking to introduce new technologies and better ways of doing things. We have a large R&D unit and have no problem with developing designs. In fact, one of our problems, being designers ourselves, is that we are constantly bringing forward new ideas despite the fact we could possibly have up to 100 new designs in the pipeline at any one time.

We feel pleased to have made a contribution to the design and quality of the public domain and we feel Street Furniture Australia is well established to go on to bigger and better things.

An extract from Outdoor Design Source – People Profile.

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Take this quiz to test your urban streetscape knowledge and for the chance to win the latest iPod shuffle.

Answers and results by profession will be posted June 30 2012. All responses will be confidential.

1) What is a bollard?
a) A dog bowl that is attached to a drinking fountain
b) A short post used to divert traffic from an area or road
c) A male Bollywood actor

2) What kind of metal is the least corrosive and therefore most suitable for outdoor furniture?
a) Aluminium
b) Platinum
c) Iron

3) What is the correct term for this definition:
A roofed passageway or indoor court usually containing a variety of shops or businesses.
a) Concourse
b) Galleria
c) Plaza

4) What would you use this object from Street Furniture Australia for?

a) To sit on
b) To dispose of a cigarette
c) To park a bicycle

5) Which is the most suitable timber for use in outdoor furniture?
a) Jarrah
b) Pine
c) Cedar

6) What is the correct term for this definition:
Covering metal with zinc to avoid corrosion.
a) Anodise
b) Linish
c) Galvanise

BONUS
Which of these public services is untrue?
a) Chocolate milk emanates from bubblers in Monaco
b) You can refill your bottles with orange juice in Japan
c) Drink fountains in France offer sparkling water

Please send your answers, name and profession to info@streetfurniture.com with subject title “How street smart are you?” for your chance to win the latest iPod shuffle from Apple. Winner will be contacted by email on June 30 2012.

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Image courtesy of Channel 7

Our bench was featured on Channel Seven’s top rating show Dancing with the Stars. Packed to the Rafters actress Zoe Cramond and professional dance partner Aric Yegudkin danced an emotional fox trot using the Street Furniture bench as a prop for the romantic interlude.

The program was televised at 6.30pm on Sunday 29th April 2012. The routine can also be viewed on the official website on Yahoo 7!

To see more about the product, go to Galleria Slim Bench CMG8.

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How do landscapes keep us healthy? BLOOM is a thought provoking exhibition curated by Gweneth Leigh in partnership with the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects that demonstrates how the built environment impacts our health and well being.

Displayed throughout the exhibition are Street Furniture Australia products as well as leading landscape architecture examples from around Australia. Explored topics include:

• The role of ‘healing’ landscapes within hospitals and aged care facilities
• How schools are using the outdoors for tackling childhood obesity
• The impact of gardens within prisons
• The value of community gardens within cities
• How reclaiming roads for pedestrian use can improve the health of cities

BLOOM will be held at the Gallery of Australian Design in Canberra from May 8 to June 9 2012.

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A designer’s work is never finished, especially in the Street Furniture Australia design studio.

In response to the immense popularity of the Arqua Drinking Fountain, our R&D team has developed a new and improved version for our customers.

Enhanced quality …
Moving away from traditional casting methods, the revised Arqua water bubbler uses the latest in fabrication technology to offer the best in manufacturing quality.

More durable …
The upgraded product now features one of the toughest push button and valve systems in the market. Originally designed for use in prisons, the Arqua push button resists vandalism and wear and tear to offer excellent whole-of-life value and product longevity.

Arqua Fountain is a wheelchair-friendly product. The Arqua range includes the Arqua Refill Pole and Arqua Dog Bubbler (available October 2012).

See the Arqua brochure.

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Channel Ten’s The Project

Jon Dee – founder of Do Something and Go Tap – spoke on The Project about how bottled water is an overpriced ‘consumer con’ that excessively increases our landfill.

Jon Dee

Street Furniture Australia has partnered with Jon Dee to help make more drinking fountains and refill stations available in public areas. More fountains means less bottled water, which is kinder to your wallet and our environment.

Jon Dee with Carrie Bickmore on The Project

For more information on the Arqua Fountain, please see the Arqua Fountain Brochure.

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By Sally Morrison.
September 18, 2012

In April 2012 I visited the New York City High Line with my sister Edwina and our friends Rob and Ruairidh. There were only a few days left of our three-week adventure in America and we thought an afternoon stroll along the High Line, followed by cocktails and dinner would be the perfect farewell to this incredible city.

Me on the High Line. Photo: Edwina Morrison.

The High Line, which is now a public park, was once a freight line that sat elevated above the streets of Manhattan’s West Side. It is now owned by the City of New York and is maintained and operated by Friends of the High Line who oversee maintenance, operations and public programming for the park – as well as raising the essential private funds to support more than 90% of the park’s annual operating budget.

The High Line was built in the 1930s as part of the West Side Improvement project, which removed dangerous trains from the streets and housed them 30 feet in the air.

Located on Manhattan’s West Side, it runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues.

The High Line circa 1930. Photo: The High Line.

Abandoned in the 1980s, it was rediscovered in 1999 when international photographer Joel Sternfeld produced a series of photographic works documenting the High Line. Under threat of demolition, the community based not-for-profit Friends of the High Line formed and worked in partnership with the City of New York to preserve and maintain the structure as an elevated public park.

Edwina and I met the boys at the West 30^th Entrance between 10^th and 11^th Avenue. Having experienced unseasonably chilly weather in New York, you can imagine our happiness when we were blessed with a beautiful 16 degrees and sunny afternoon.

10th Avenue, New York City. Photo: Sally Morrison.

Our journey began: we walked towards ‘Wild Flower Field,’ a straight green axis on the High Line blooming with spring plants and flowers. The High Line is located in a very hostile and difficult environment to grow a landscape. Its thin soil bed and extreme weather temperatures and patterns means there are issues with providing adequate water and nutrients for plants. Therefore to ensure plants bloom throughout the growing seasons, the landscape is home to native species that once grew spontaneously on the High Line as well as new species to the area.

Natural species of plants growing on the abandoned High Line. Photo: The High Line.

‘One of the greatest features of the High Line is the paving that has been designed to crack open and allow plants to come through. It also has open joints that collect and store rainwater, which can then seep slowly into the plant beds. Eighty to ninety percent of all the water that falls on the High Line stays on the High Line,’ says lead designer James Corner.

The original railway tracks have also been left intact in some sections. These are used to make individual garden beds, and many are visible as you walk.

Garden beds and original railway tracks on the High Line. Photo: Edwina Morrison.

Besides the ever-present greenery, the first thing you notice is the incredible views. Never-before-seen outlooks are possible due to the adaptive reuse of the High Line. Many tall buildings are visible when looking up towards Mid Town and the Upper West Side, as well as clear views over the Hudson River when looking to New Jersey.

The High Line and the New York Line 2012. Photo: Sally Morrison.

Next we approach the ‘Woodland Fly Over,’ where a microclimate has been created using adjacent buildings to support dense plant growth. To accommodate this microclimate, James Corner created a metal flyover. This allows for the landscape to fill in below and for an undulating terrain of moss and shade to blanket the lime beds.

When walking through the canal of tall apartment buildings we notice not only the views of many famous New York City roof terraces but also views into resident’s apartments. Some of the apartment windows are at the same height as the walkway and as a visitor you can see into their apartment just as easily as they can see the High Line. I was surprised by how many people did not have blinds, shutters or curtains.

Ruairidh, Rob and Edwina on the Flyover 2012. Photo: Sally Morrison.

As we make our way towards the Sundeck between 14^th and 15^th streets the street furniture of the High Line starts to become more prominent. At the Northern Spur before the entrance to the Chelsea Markets Passage we were welcomed by an urban leafy forest, which creates shade and protection for many benches.

Custom designed street furniture 2012. Photo: Sally Morrison.

Custom street furniture bench 2012. Photo: Sally Morrison.

All the seating has been custom designed for the High Line project. The benches at the Northern Spur seem to peel up from the timber flooring and are supported at one end by an aluminium pipe. Under the bench where the timber floorboard used to lie is a drain, which collects rainwater to irrigate the plants of the High Line.

Other furniture includes banquet seating along the straight axis from West 30th Entrance to the Wild Flower Field, and auditorium seating at 10^th Avenue Square. Facing towards midtown you can also see the Statue of Liberty. At the Sundeck you can relax on reclining deck chairs for unobstructed sun and views over the Hudson River. The Sundeck also houses a water feature that skims water along the upper walkway, allowing visitors to wade barefoot and cool off in the hot New York summer.

Sun lovers on the Sun Deck 2012. Photo by Sally Morrison.

Custom street furniture 2012. Photo: The High Line.

Custom street furniture 2012. Photo: Sally Morrison.

Sadly it appears that the litter receptacle was possibly an afterthought in the street furniture design. Unlike the seating, which is seamless in its appearance, the litter bins and recycle units seem to be placed in corners with disregard to the urban environment. Maybe an enclosed litter system would have been a better solution?

Litter Bin on the High Line 2012. Photo: Sally Morrison.

Recycle and waste centre on the High Line 2012. Photo: Sally Morrison.

As we reach the Gansevoort Plaza our afternoon on the High Line is coming to an end. Looking over the meatpacking district, I think back over the 18 blocks we have walked, up in the city air and all the surprises we spied along the way. We walk down the Gansevoort stairs towards The Standard Hotel Beer Garden, and are greeted with one more surprise. As our pink cocktails are brought to the table I look up to the ceiling and stare at it for a while, until I realise that the beer garden is also sheltered by this incredible structure, The High Line.

The end of the High Line, Gansevoort Plaza 2012. Photo: The High Line.

The Standard Hotel NYC, Beer Garden, sheltered by the High Line 2012. Photo: Sally Morrison.

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Its square, urban, sexy and it keeps your city clean.

Street Furniture has released the Monsoon City Bin, the latest addition to the Monsoon family of products. Featuring a sleek and modern design, this urban inspired bin is perfect for city environments.

With an innovative winged roof to deter rainwater and scavenging birds, and an optional integrated ashtray, the Monsoon City Bin reduces odour and mess. Always environmentally aware, the bins are designed to promote recycling and can align side by side to create an eco-friendly recycling station.

With a small square design, the Monsoon City Bin is space efficient and its side-opening door provides easy access and maintenance to remove the problems associated with heavy lifting.

The Monsoon City bin can be personalised with a wide range of powder coat colours. Additional options include the use of bi-colours for the roof and body, the application of an anti-graffiti coating or the choice of solid or slot perforated bodies.

Stay tuned for the release of the Monsoon Bin Enclosure 140K and 240K to complete the entire Monsoon family.

Click here to see our new Monsoon City Bin brochure. Further information is also available at Monsoon City bin on the official Street Furniture website.

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