Along with fountains, plants, and statues, it turns out one of the most important elements of public parks is furniture. Whether built into the landscape or moveable, chairs, tables, and benches dictate how we use public spaces and how they look when we do so.

In a contest that began in 2012, NYC Parks, the National Park Service, and the Battery Conservancy solicited designs for a chair to be used in a grassy section of the Battery, at the southern tip of Manhattan, called the Battery Oval. Earlier this month Canadian industrial designer Andrew Jones collected the $10,000 prize for his winning entry, Fleurt, a blue stackable steel armchair.

Jones is no stranger to creating elements for public spaces. He worked with landscape architect Claude Cormier on Sugar Beach, an award-winning park in downtown Toronto, for which he designed the much-photographed pink umbrellas.

When conceiving his entry, Jones considered historic pieces, including the ubiquitous Fermob Paris Bistro chair, found in outdoor spaces around the world. He also studied the Battery, where he was inspired by Piet Oudolf’s meadow-esque planting scheme. And finally he contemplated how 300 of his creations would work together in such a setting.

Fleurt, Jones says, is meant to mimic a blooming flower, in particular the self-sowing meadow variety that groups itself naturally in drifts and clusters across the large lawn. The inspiration for its color palette for came from scilla, the early spring bulb with its delicate blue flowers.

The chairs will be ready for installation in 2016. To learn more about the competition, visit thebatterrg .

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