Abstract
This paper explores how inhabitable furniture can enrich urban spaces by introducing a human-scale sensibility rooted in urban domesticity—the translation of care, intimacy, and comfort from the home into the public realm. At its core is body awareness in the city, with the body and its movement guiding the design of plazas and streets. Habitable Urban Furniture proposes multifunctional, transformable elements—canopy-chairs with integrated light, “urban beds,” or modular seating landscapes—that integrate uses while keeping spaces open, adaptable, and socially inclusive. Case studies such as our Living Chair (2025), Urban Biombo (2019), and Chinchilla’s Bojagi Lounge (2013) show how sensory-responsive interventions can catalyze social connection and intergenerational play, offering a low-impact, scalable strategy for creating inclusive, resilient, and joyful cities. Unlike interior furniture, which has advanced through innovations in ergonomics and materials, urban furniture has remained static and uniform. As both Olin’s Be Seated (2017) and Whyte’s The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces (1980) show, the design of seating shapes how public space is occupied, perceived, and valued. This research turns to three visual and spatial references. Antonello da Messina’s Saint Jerome in His Study shows how furniture can create an intimate refuge within monumental architecture. The Garden of Paradise by the Upper Rhenish Master, later reinterpreted by Alison and Peter Smithson in their House of the Future, becomes a reference we use to reimagine the “plaza of the future.” Finally, Verner Panton’s Visiona 2 dissolves the boundaries between object, architecture, and environment, turning furniture into inhabitable, fluid landscapes.
Presenters
Marta Rodriguez FernandezAssociate Professor, College of Architecture and Design, University of Houston, Texas, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2026 Special Focus—From the Home to the City: Designing Spatial Experiences
KEYWORDS
Urban Furniture, Urban Domesticity, Intergenerational Play, Inclusive Cities
