The top five finalists for The Battery Conservancy's Draw Up A Chair competition

The Battery Conservancy is one step closer to finding the winning outdoor chair design of their Draw Up A Chair competition for The Battery park in New York City.

The competition began with 679 submissions in July 2012. Then the jury selected the Top 50 designs, which were exhibited for the public to see and use over the past six months.

The top five designs are:

• Fleurt by ­ Andrew Jones Design: Andrew Jones (Toronto, Canada)
• Maple Chair by ­ Maria Camarena Design: Maria Camarena Bernard (Zapopan, Mexico)
• Pivot Chair ­ by Independent Design Group: Simon Kristak & Aidan Jamison (Brooklyn, USA)
• South Chair ­ by Jason Bird (Redwood City, USA)
• U Rock ­ by Pitanga: Davi Deusdara, Érica Martins, Tais Costa & Rafael Studart Alencar (Falcão, Brazil)

Check out some images of each design below.

Full-scale prototypes of each finalist design will be developed by The Battery Conservancy, followed by an exhibition at the Castle Clinton National Monument from April-June 2014.

Announcement of the winner will be in June 2014. The winner will receive a US$10,000 cash prize, and of course, their design will be fabricated for use in the Battery Green at The Battery Park, New York City.

The jury features: Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator, Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art; Allison Arieff, design writer, The New York Times, Editor, The Urbanist; Fernando Campana and Humberto Campana, designers, Sao Paulo; Rob Forbes, Founder of Design Within Reach and CEO of Public Bikes; and Mario Schjetnan, Co-Founder & Director of Mario Schjetnan/Grupo de Diseño Urbano, Mexico City.

For more details on each finalist, click here.

All images courtesy of The Battery Conservancy Americas "Draw Up A Chair" Design Competition.

Browse the thumbnails below to see each finalist's project boards.