Our bench, like the others in this years Fitz&Sitz trail, began with an investigation into the theme of "Voices".
While the competition brief initially directed us toward historical individuals, we were more interested in recent, collective voices. Looking at recent marches and demonstrations we were drawn to long-view photography that captures the scale and layered presence of people paused together in the act of expressing their voice.
Alongside this, researching Fitzrovia led us to consider the cornice, an often overlooked, or rather underlooked, architectural element. Used by classicists throughout the area, the motif has also been an object of fascination for modernists who subverted it, and artists like Lichtenstein who highlighted its contribution to public space.
Despite this, cornices are often missed, visually lost amid the signage, shopfronts, and activity at street level, despite their consistency as a feature on buildings in Fitzrovia.
We wanted to use this architectural element to capture the story of the collective voice. We took inspiration from narrative figures like the caryatids, such as those at the New Church just around the corner in St Pancras.
To do this, we created a simple silhouette, a voice in the crowd. Then we gave it company by repeating it, and added depth and perspective to form a march.
The bench is clad in Jesmonite AC730 Glass Reinforced Concrete (GRC), fabricated by Simplicity Finishes, expert façade specialists who worked on the Bloomberg building and others in the City. The mould masters were 3D-printed by, Mr Campbell Prints.
The GRC units are fixed to a steel frame and topped with VM Zinc Quartz coping fabricated by Eco Roofing Surrey. The result is a bench built like a piece of architecture, part façade, part street furniture. A fragment of building brought to pavement level.
Sponsored By Databricks
The London Festival of Architecture (LFA) and The Fitzrovia Partnership invite you to pause, relax and enjoy the surroundings at nine creative and vibrant seating installations across Fitzrovia. More than just places to rest, these dynamic designs bring the LFA2025 theme, 'Voices' to life.
