Street Furniture
Street furniture is a collective term for objects and pieces of equipment installed on streets and roads for various
purposes, including traffic barrier, benches, bollards, post boxes, phone boxes, streetlamps, street lighting, traffic
lights, traffic signs, bus stops, grit bins, tram stops, taxi stands, public lavatories, fountains and memorials, and
waste receptacles. An important consideration in the design of street furniture is how it affects road safety.
Components: various styles and finishes according
to the requirment of the context
•BOLLARDS-to prohibit vehicles within given area, makes pedestrians
feel less vulnerable to the passage of traffic in close quarters
Cast iron bollards
Steel bollards
Stainless steel bollards
Composite bollards
Anti ram-raid protection
Recycled plastic bollards
Folding bollards
Illuminated bollards
Telescopic bollards
Cast iron
Diameter: 220mm
Height: 1000mm
Root depth: 300mm
Lamp: PL
POSTS AND RAILINGS
These railings are used varilably in ares like staircases ,streets,parking lots etc
These elements are aesthetic as well as functional,different patterns and
shapes may change the whole feel of the component also ,the placment
or arrangment changes the function ,size ,materials used.
A street in mussourie
Beautiful ornate railings
Reflecting the cultural
Heritage of the place and
Adding to the natural beauty
Pedestrian barriers
For security reasons ,also create
a sense of differentiation or
demarkation of ones property .
A Shimla railing showing
How a railing has been used by
A woollen items roadside vendor
Fencing
This traditional fencing offers
elegance and security whilst
allowing freedom for architectural
content.
LITTER BINS
To be kept in mind –the placement ,the material used for the type of waste
used ,the design should be such that it is comfortable in use (for eg. Easy to
open lid),number of bins placed (eg. More litter bins are required in a small
street wid restaurants and eatouts,lesser required on a highway)
Service Areas, Trash Enclosures, Dumpsters, and Mechanical Equipment shall be visually screened
Advanced products like bomb resistant litter bins have now been
introduced using special material for manufacturing
Cast iron + special liner
Reinforced glass fibre+ special
liner
Cast iron + special liner
Steel bins
wall post bins
stainless steel bins
Recycling litter bins
Plastic bins
Used when space is in premium Optimises space
Correct installation is important
Cheap steel bins may not be cost
effective in the long term. Here
vandals removed the top and will later
destroy it
Ciggarette bins
Chaining a bin to the lamppost is not
a good alternative to fixing it to a
substantial base.
Plastic bins, although a cheaper alternative
to cast iron, are not fire resistant. All that
remains here is the steel liner.
Dog waste bins
SEATING
PARKING LOTS
Plan of a parking lot
Principles used in parking lot design
Parking Lots shall be located to the rear
and side of buildings

Parking lots shall have perimeter visual screening
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Parking Lots shall be intensively planted
and landscaped
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Some principles of street furniture design
•All areas must be designed so as to give them
a clear spatial
definition for all users using materials and
layouts in ways which aid
wayfinding and create a sense of clarity and
confidence.
•Wherever street furniture is used, free
and unobstructed access along
natural desire lines must always be
provided. It must be grouped in
clearly understood spatial patterns that
reflect the needs of sensory
and cognitively impaired users.
Design criteria
• A clear change in level must always be
provided between pedestrian
and vehicular areas, following the “step down to
danger” principle.
•A contrasting colour should be used on either
the carriageway or
footway surface to distinguish between the two.
Alternatively, a
contrasting coloured kerb may be considered.
• Tactile paving must always be used at any vehicular crossing point.
Paving materials
• All paving on pedestrian routes must be
smooth and avoid the use of
setts or heavily riven materials.
• Joints on any paving units must be close
bonded with a maximum gap
of 5mm.
• Individual units must avoid the use of
chamfered or tumbled edges.
Street furniture
• The design of any equipment must be
sympathetic to disabled
pedestrians who may frequently find the need to
physically explore
objects to identify them or who may
inadvertently come into contact with
them
• Use should be made of poles etc. as a location
for more than one item
of equipment, for example, litter bins and signs.
• Any bollard should have:
1 a smooth shape, with no angular edges
2 a contrasting, coloured band at least 150mm
wide at the top
3 its overall colour must contrast with the
surrounding footway
4 it must not be linked to others by chains, rope
etc.
• Seats should be provided with armrests, backs
and spaces alongside
them to allow a wheelchair user to sit alongside
an ambulant
companion.
Any tables, chairs or other displays associated
with cafés users, including
menus and freestanding advertising boards,
must be located wholly within
clearly defined areas and away from natural
desire lines.
Climate specific furniture
GRIT BINS:
In cold countries Grit bins are
essentially used
 holds a mixture of salt and grit
which is spread over roads if
they have snow or ice on them.
 A grit bin improves winter road
safety on roads which are not
gritted by other means, such as
from a winter service vehicle.
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How it works?
The bins are used to spread a thin layer of grit onto
the road surface, covering any snow or ice.
The salt component of the grit lowers the melting
point of the snow causing it to melt (see sodium
chloride).
The grit component improves the friction between a
vehicle's tires and the road.
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Bathing Fountains:
In hot areas splashing
fountains are generally
used:
a fountain intended for
people to cool off in.
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These fountains are designed to allow easy access,
and
feature nonslip surfaces, so that people can safely
use them to cool off in on hot summer days.
Splash fountains have zero standing water, to
eliminate possible drowning hazards, so that no
lifeguards or supervision is required.
These splash pads are often located in public pools,
public parks, or public playgrounds (known as
"spraygrounds")
CASE STUDY
1.Xaverhill town-2004 audit which identified poor street furniture as an aspect of
the town centre that detracted from its overall appearance and image.
CLUTTER
“Unnecessary signage, bollards,
railings,
yellow lines and even traffic lights clutter
the
streets and ruin the visual impact of our
surroundings
In 2004 English Heritage invited the public to
undertake their own audit of street clutter as a
first step to campaigning for the removal of
unwanted items of street furniture.
CO-ORDINATION
Lack of co-ordination between items of street
furniture can add to a sense of clutter. The
same quantity of street furniture can be
accommodated without appearing cluttered if it
is co-ordinated. Co-ordination implies overall
coherence. Items of street furniture in close
proximity to each other should appear to be ‘of
a family’ in design terms but care must also be
take in the siting and arrangement of each
element.
an awkwardly placed seat is not an
attractive place to rest
Before
After
•If street furniture is to enhance the appearance
of the town centre then it is likely that high
quality materials will be required.
•The quality of the fabric of the town centre is a highly visible
expression of how a community values the
public realm, and in turn, itself as a community.
•Poor quality materials can detract from the
amenity of an area and therefore can be
somewhat pointless.
bespoke seating in Bury
St Edmunds
A prototype bespoke bollard has
been designed and fabricated
and installed outside Haverhill
Arts Centre
co-ordinated design can link diverse elements…
bollards to railings to signs
2. Shimla- the mall road
The character of street furniture of a hilly tourist area is different from that of
Prototype city area .The undulating terrain ,and the gorgeous view of the hill station ,
Shimla was annexed by the British in 1819 and hence it purely reflects
British style in the buildings streetscapes etc .Railings,lamp posts ,and fencings are
intricately ornate
The effect of snow cover
on the fence and bench
Ornamental fence
Use by a woollen seller
BENCHES
Beautiful benches provided at small intervals on the
road in order to hold the large number of tourists
Emphasis has been laid on the provision of maximum sitting area keeping in
mind the flood of tourists,and also the slopes on the mall road due to which
people get tired and need to sit while strolling down the street
These steps help in connecting different bifurcations of the street at different levels
Ornamentation of the street sides