Make an enquiry
0

My Enquiry List
(0 products)

You can tell us about any specific requirements including finishes and project requirements once you confirm your enquiry list below.

    Stay in touch

    Leave your details and we'll keep you in the loop with all the latest news and podcast releases.

    We'll need some info

    Drop us your details below for access to our CAD library.

    Scroll

    One of the most profound losses of our generation is the diminishing existence of third places – locations that exist outside of our work and our home to drive community and connection.

    These are our parks, our public areas, our coffee shops with no limitations on time spent within them, our free museums and art galleries, our shopping centres devised around lingering. They are places where people can go to unwind from a busy day of work, a stopping point on the way home to resume the 5PM-9PM shift after the 9AM-5PM; places of rest. 

    The COVID-19 pandemic brought into sharp relief how our lack of third places has pushed communities to straining underneath the weight of a deep, unmatched loneliness: more than 1 in 7 UK adults identify that they are struggling with poor mental health, and over 3.81 million residents of the islands experience a constant state of loneliness. While there are other factors that come into play, the lack of places to go between work and home, without any incentive to spend money, has certainly ushered forward a dearth of support for the most tender in our community.

    But while the rising numbers indicate that there are changes that must be made on a more foundational level, a mindful design for the public spaces that do remain can help see through to the other side of this.

    Strand-RailRoad-02

    The third place theory 

    In our lives, we have two primary places: work, our second place, and home, our first place. 

    Third places comprise everywhere we go outside of those two locations. They are the churches we stop by to light incense for the departed, the bookstores with decorated store-front that hosts book signings, the gym and the library, bars, cafes, clubs, theatres with bills showcasing the latest production. They are the moments where we leave one of our places to head to the next, and find somewhere along the way to stop, bracing ourselves for the transition from work to home, or vice versa. 

    Significantly, they are places of community and connection.

    Strand-RailRoad-03 (1)

    Third places are places where we make friends – with local figures, with our neighbours, with people we may see around the shops but have never spoken to. Ray Oldenburg, the American sociologist that coined the phrase, considered third places to have specific characteristics that make them so, including: 

    • there is a lack of obligation, with no need to visit a third place. 
    • there is no importance placed on status; it is a community location where everyone is equal. 
    • conversation is the main use of a third place. 
    • ease and accessibility, with elements that provide for comfort. 
    • a handful of regulars who frequent the third place, and both attract newcomers and create a welcoming environment. 
    • it is cosy and comfortable. 
    • people feel as though they belong there, and rejuvenate after spending time in their third place. 
    • the mood is always playful and lively. 

    We’ve had plenty of third places throughout history: think of the Greek agora, or the public park amphitheatre, of the Chinese teahouse and the European coffeeshop on the corner – however, there can always be more third places, and often, all it takes is a quick, clever application of furniture.

    Greenwich park

    Furnishing the Third Place

    Three of the most primary directives for a third place are easily within the grasp of most developments, whether they are new builds or restorations of pre-existing places. These are: 

    • Comfortable seating. 
    • Accessibility.
    • No obligation to leave, to hurry away, or to linger. 

    The same architectural principles that dictate third places dictate placemaking in turn – as people develop a connection to the space they spend the majority of their time in, it transitions slowly into a place, a created opportunity for human connection and community. 

    To create that opportunity for connection, however, some consideration needs to be taken to ensure that people will linger there. Designing places benefits from an understanding of the location at play, knowing what it will be used for, and having a clear vision of its ideal form.

    Gallion's Reach-1

    For architects and place designers, this begins with a contemplation of materials. Is the location underground, or in a dimly-lit area? Would it benefit from adding the warmer tones of wood, or the cooler angles of metal? Every designed place brings a sensorial magic to life: from the selection of wood tones to choosing stone or brick for accent pieces, to selecting which, of a variety of plants, can add a new dimension to indoor planters. 

    In our Gallions Reach project, we wanted to touch upon the space that the retail hub had in spades, and to render some of the more open areas comfortable enough to linger in. The touch of green from our planters adds an element of freshness to a closed space, creating a talking point for people who want a pause from their shopping, and clearly identifying the location as a spot to stop in.

    That particular location, with its expansive, stretching space, benefitted from smaller areas of confined seating and rest, whereas our Strand Aldwych project went in an opposite direction. As a busy locale, it needed a more expansive space to spread out in, creating pockets of peace amid the shops and the listed buildings.

    Jubilee Gardens and London eye shadow view from above.

    From space to place 

    It’s clear to see that placemaking takes multiple forms, and designing spaces into places unites a particular set of commitments on behalf of the designer and on every subsequent rung in the placemaking ladder: contractors, place owners, suppliers. 

    However, it’s additionally a reflection of values. Whatever materials or design considerations are taken into account prior to placemaking all reflect the way that we think about our environments – from the use of natural materials to the accessibility of seating. To create a place that is merely somewhere to sit is to limit a location to a mere usable space, something that serves a very small function as a stop-gap. 

    To design a place, or to take a space into a place, goes far more deeply. 

    Over the course of a year, a single location will see thousands of people visit. They will use its seating, they will admire the planters, they will stop to meet friends or to rest, they will incorporate that location into a day out. To fully elevate that space into something that people go out of their way to visit, to make a space into a place, there must also be an element of ownership and belonging, and a flexible approach to the location that allows for multiple contexts beyond the bench.

    Canterbury High St-60 (2)

    Your choice and selection of furniture can be one of the biggest determinants as to whether a space will remain a space or transition into a place. Comfortable seating that makes the greatest use of a space, and incorporates elements of connection, is a big step towards creating a welcoming atmosphere: something that invites lingering. 

    Our Railroad line, for example, can be implemented with a number of configurations, including back-rests, arm-rests, and with gaps in between seating sections to allow for wheel chair users. It can be curved or with hard angles; it can create a lovely pocket of communication or be used to parcel off areas for quiet, solitary peace. Made of gorgeous iroko timber, the use of natural wood can have a restorative effect on most locations, inviting people to linger more.

    Similarly, our Akri line of seating and integrated planters are created with the same care and attention to detail as gardens: each integrated planter is made of natural wood and stone, and can hold several litres of soil to create a stunning visual landscape. Like Railroad, it’s adaptable seating, and can include arm-rests and back-rests, or simply the seat. 

    And as the space itself becomes more inviting, the more people will begin to spark the kind of conversations that leads to community. 

    All it takes is the right bench, the right time, and the right place.