Creating a Place for Anyone and Everyone with Plains & Pods
“Much like a blank piece of paper or a very simple rectangular table, when you see Plains & Pods, what you’re seeing is potential. And when you see something as potential, it means you can impart yourself on it. There’s no code to it—it’s a setting where life is played out.”
Renowned London-based design studio Industrial Facility was founded in 2002 by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin.
Plains & Pods™ are bringing a whole new level of depth and creative expression to the design of the public square. Two complementary product lines, they go deeper into determining the social ambiance of space, seeing solo versus communal not as a binary, but as a continuum along which there can be many nodes for many different types of interaction.
Created in collaboration with renowned London-based design studio Industrial Facility, Plains & Pods embrace the potential of non-prescriptive design to elevate, humanize and personalize public outdoor space. Designed to either work independently or together in concert, Plains & Pods are united around the concept of layering—both in the physical sense and in the experiential sense—to create well-rounded, multi-dimensional settings that prioritize the freedom, expression and unique circumstances of their users.
Designed to either work independently or together in concert, Plains & Pods are united around the concept of layering.
“This is one of those product systems that’s changing the narrative about how to use furniture in public space,” describes Landscape Forms Chief Innovation Officer, Kirt Martin. “We’re seeing a lot of demand for these interactive, multi-dimensional site furnishings in the custom sphere, but Plains & Pods are the first standard products in our portfolio that really combine these ideas of layers and multiple use cases.”
Designed to work independently or together, Plains & Pods use layering to create well-rounded, multi-dimensional settings that prioritize freedom and expression
“This is one of those product systems that’s changing the narrative about how to use furniture in public space,” describes Landscape Forms Chief Innovation Officer, Kirt Martin. “We’re seeing a lot of demand for these interactive, multi-dimensional site furnishings in the custom sphere, but Plains & Pods are the first standard products in our portfolio that really combine these ideas of layers and multiple use cases.”
Rectilinear, bold and architectural, Plains are large-format beams and platforms that vary in height and width to create multifaceted settings that speak to their users’ individuality. Laying down, stretching out, perching, sitting cross-legged, sharing space with strangers—activities that might feel counterintuitive on a ‘conventional’ bench feel natural on Plains. Accompanying the range of Plains modules, optional metal backs and attaching side tables create installations with a level of specificity, detail and variety only rivaled by custom solutions. Plains can branch, network, stair-step, overlap, crisscross, create runs and more to enable the full freedom of design in three dimensions.
Plains are large-format beams and platforms that vary in height and width to create multifaceted settings that speak to their users’ individuality.
“What makes me so passionate about solutions like Plains is that while they do read intuitively or subconsciously as benches, they also can come across as so much more,” says Landscape Forms Director of Design, Ryan Heiser. “Laying down, perching, sitting cross-legged, breaking down the division between ‘me space’ and ‘we space’—using Plains unlike a traditional bench feels much more natural because it’s not encoded with the same rules or expectations.”
The curvilinear counterpart to Plains, Pods seats and planters are designed to be grouped together in tiered clusters of respite space and attractive greenery. Sprouting like bunches of mushrooms from the forest floor, groupings of differently sized Pods modules give users the opportunity to determine exactly how they interact with space and with one another. From open and welcoming communal zones, to areas for privacy and single seating, to quick touch-down points around the periphery, archipelagos of Pods bring social and aesthetic depth to the landscape. Short Pods planters share footprints with the warm, wood-topped seats to contribute cohesion to installations, while tall Pods planters are used to bring height, space definition and visual variety.
Pods seats and planters are designed to be grouped together in tiered clusters of respite space and greenery.
As fully-fledged product systems, both Plains & Pods individually bring depth, multi-functionality and user freedom to the landscape, but together their impact is magnified. Large groups, small groups, couples, families with children, solos wanting privacy, solos wanting to interact with others sharing the space—anyone and everyone can find their ideal place in Plains & Pods. "Together, these two products are all about layering space and experiences to create pockets of recognizable design DNA that are totally non-prescriptive,” concludes Heiser. "People can approach a Plains & Pods installation from 360-degrees and determine exactly how they want to use it."