MAS Studio Wins Architecture for Humanity Street Furniture Competition

The Chicago Chapter of Architecture for Humanity announced that the entry “Cut.Join.Play” by Chicago/Barcelona-based firm MAS Studio is the winner of the Street Furniture Competition. The MAS Studio team includes Iker Gil, Andrew Obendorf, Julie Michiels, and Andrew Clark.

For the competition, designers were asked to create one or more pieces of “street furniture” that can be easily distributed to vacant sites and parks throughout the city for two months during the summer with the goal to initiate a dialogue about how we use our space and encourage community participation in the decisions that affect our civic life. The competition requested these installations to be temporary and inexpensive. Designers also had to consider what will happen to the materials at the end of the two month time period.

Here’s a mini project description of “Cut.Join.Play” from MAS Studio’s website:

01. Start with a flat, lifeless lot and some plywood of similar quality.
02. Select the size of the desired installation, from XS to XL, the possibilities are endless.
03. Cut plywood into simple geometric shapes according to the patterns provided.
04. Join the pieces together with a metal angle after matching up the edges with equal dimensions. As the volumes aggregate, a landscape begins to form.
05. Fill the volumes with grass, herbs, flowers, recycling containers, light - life!
06. When summer fades, don’t be disappointed. We’ll take the plants to a deserving home or community garden. We’ll make sure your recyclables move on to serve new purposes. And we’ll clean up and package up the boards to bring it all back to life next summer.

Honorable Mentions were given to Brenna Martin with “Rocking Stable” and Ross Atkin and Isabel Lizardi with “Seeded”.