JC DECAUX BUS SHELTER

Location: Aachen, Germany
Year: 1996

Street furniture prototypes for the French company JC Decaux were based on the idea of folding to create unique yet mass-produceable forms. The bus shelter installed on Elisenbrunnenplatz in central Aachen consists of two parts. The first is a folded towerlike structure with an electronic display for announcements and potential advertising. The second is the shelter itself, a legged “creature" made of steel. Two intertwining steel “plates,” one gray and one deep gold, are folded and unfolded to establish a non-Cartesian space. The gray plates also fold into projecting benches to provide seating for waiting bus passengers. Though the openings appear regular and repetitive, in fact each “leg” of the creature is different.