STREET FURNITURE DESIGN COMPETITION
Lucas Helander
Lucas Helander recently graduated from the 2 MArch program at the University of Washington where he focused on Materials, Fabrication, and Digital Design Computing. With a deep love of craft and furniture making, his primary focus post-graduation is finding opportunities to integrate digital simulations with machine tooling for fabrication purposes. He has work experience across the country, from his roots in the northeast to his current home in Seattle.
Most recently he spent 1.5 years working in Copenhagen as a Junior Architect focusing on urban planning projects across northern Europe. Lucas identifies the University District as a place that needs more urban engagement and is excited to see the efforts being made to make the Ave more human-friendly.

The 42nd St. Grow Rooms
My proposal expands on the Grow Room project by the Ikea think tank Space10. This open-source project was originally developed in 2016 as a way to provide low cost easy-to-build vertical farming systems all across the globe. The spheres are CNC cut from 16 sheets of plywood and are easily assembled with a rubber mallet. With little construction knowledge needed, the goal would be to invite the community to assemble the rooms.
This next iteration pushes the original, single- unit, design produced by space10 by having three interconnected spheres forming a series of openings and a continuous cavern, lined with bench seating, that allows pedestrians to step off the sidewalk or street and enjoy the unique space.
These rooms draw pedestrians off the Ave and shelter them from vehicle traffic, the sun, and the rain while providing a vertical park environment, that can’t be found anywhere else in the University District.





Experience the Art
U District Art Walk
The Street Furniture Design Competition entries will be installed for the U District Art Walk the afternoon of Friday, August 16. Come experience public art on the Summer 'Green Street'!