Tasmanian design studio | Battery point sculpture trail

in Urban Design by editor — 9:42 am | July 5, 20120 comments

2012 SEG Global Design Awards: Great Ideas Win

Futago, a Hobart-based design studio, has won a Merit – one of only nine awarded worldwide – in the 2012 SEGD Global Design Awards. Based in Washington DC, the Society for Environmental Graphic Design is the lead organisation for the global community of professionals working where communication design intersects with the built environment.

Tasmanian design studio | Battery point sculpture trail

Futago won the award for the Battery Point Sculpture Trail, a permanent installation of nine individually-designed and fabricated sculptures along a walking route through Battery Point, Hobart’s most historically-significant precinct. The project was commissioned by Hobart City Council. The design team comprised Futago’s Kate Owen and Daniel Zika, in collaboration with Judith Abell and Chris Viney. Kate Owen and Judith Abell both travelled to New York to accept the award.

The theme of the trail is ‘sculpture by numbers’ – each installation presents a three-dimensional number (dates, times, quantities, weights, measures) that explore themes relating to their particular locations. Brief and evocative interpretive text opens up the stories of each place. A bold orange and grey graphic identity visually links the sculptures and the way-finding signage through consistent typography and colour application.

Entrants in the SEGD awards are judged by a multi-disciplinary international jury of highly-respected design practitioners. Some of the comments from jury members included these:

“I was very impressed with the clever use of numbers as message as well as the variety of execution techniques that brought variety and richness to each message. The floating 313 is a magical way of telling a simple story in a dramatic and beautiful way. I can imagine it tells a very different story on calm versus blustery days.”

“This design solution really stood out—a celebration of Helvetica cleverly interpreting the historical significance of the waterfront. Each of the ‘objects’ are designed, built, and located to reference their curatorial significance. The anchored block 313 (the number of boats built and launched from this site) that rises and falls with the tide is utterly inspired. It will be really interesting to see how this evolves over time as each element weathers and ages.”

Location: Washington, USA

Architect: Tasmanian design studio