Project Information

R.O.S.S.O (Reclaiming Outdoor Spaces with Seating Opportunities) is a public outdoor furniture installation led by CPID Designer and Faculty Fellow, Marta Petteni. The concept sparks from the client’s need of for public furniture as part of the temporary Montgomery Street closure event on Campus in the spring 2019. The goal was a piece of furniture that would be easy to move, flexible, durable, and accessible. In addition, the design team wanted to challenge the ‘seating’ idea (by creating something that was more than a seat), and the ‘car’ idea (by designing something close in size but with human-centered potential), given that the furniture was going to be on a parking lot area and used by all. After four months of stakeholder meetings, design sessions, and construction workshops, R.O.S.S.O was born. Composed by 8 modular pieces, each one installed on a 40”x48” pallet to be easily moved, R.O.S.S.O is a charismatic but durable soul. The wooden light-gray triangular components are located at different heights in order to allow different users to sit, lay down, or stand on them, and the bright red metal component allows the modules to host different types of amenities such as books, tables and solar lamps. During the one-month event in May 2019, organizers reconfigured the furniture each week, giving the team the possibility to test different configurations and observe how each configuration was used by the public. After that, R.O.S.S.O was used as part of the ‘Sunday Parkway‘ events in summer and it is now back on Montgomery Street with the hope to promote a more permanent closure of the street.

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