Rest and Play looks into imagination and interpretation as generative tools for designing public furniture. It is developed from an in-depth look at playgrounds as places for learning, socializing, and world-building and transposes some of these sculptural forms back onto the street with renewed purpose. Designed for a multi-generational demographic, the furniture will provide a place to rest for the tired, while enabling different activations by children and adults alike. We view play as a social act, and as a way to find balance collectively, and so through it, we seek to create spaces where interaction and communication can lead to unexpected opportunities.

The discreet singular sculptural forms will be connected by a continuous “spine” that provides a structure to the space linking the Transbay Transit Center to SFMOMA and the Yerba Buena Gardens. The project transforms the streetscape into a promenade where singular occurrences are woven together so that the pieces “walk with you” as you walk down the street, drawing your attention to things previously unnoticed. A place to sit becomes an invitation to explore.

While each furniture piece is custom designed to accommodate specific needs and site conditions, they can be mass-produced if only one or two are chosen. While we showcase a variety of forms in our presentation, the pieces follow a few simple rules and can be fabricated using very conventional and straightforward methods.

The concrete structure of the furniture can be cast in manageable segments off-site, and can then be delivered to site, fastened together, and anchored to the sidewalk. The lighter components, such as seats and color panels, will be constructed from wood and painted metal respectively. These parts are more liable to wear and tear, so they will be detailed to provide adequate space for cleaning and replacement if necessary. The continuous spine, shown as a stainless steel pipe, consists of standard straight and curved pipe segments, with customized couplings and anchors to allow geometric flexibility. Where the spine stops, at the endpoint of each piece, it anchors into the ground to accommodate either a bollard or a bike rack.

Technical sheet

Project Name: Minna Natoma Art Corridor Street Furniture: Rest and Play

Location: San Francisco, California

Client: San Francisco Arts Commission

Architects: Ballman Khapalova in collaboration with Rayyane Tabet (artist)

Project Date: 2021 (Competition Finalist Proposal)

About Ballman Khapalova

New York based Ballman Khapalova are architects who strive to merge the intimate and the urban through imaginative structures, forms, events, and activities that transform the way a city can see itself. Their urban work in neglected and desolate areas develops opportunities to introduce new spaces of play, art, performance, recreation, reflection, healing, and debate that can allow residents and visitors alike a chance to experience and envision a street, neighborhood, riverbank, or city in a new way.  Drawing on extensive experience in design and construction, they select and manage a highly capable team of contributors from the early stages of the design process, ensuring an integrated and feasible design that is physically, environmentally, and logistically achievable without compromising its visionary promise.

About Rayyane Tabet

Rayyane Tabet (b. 1983, Achqout, Lebanon) is an artist who lives and works between Beirut and San Francisco. Drawing from experience and self-directed research, Tabet explores stories that offer an alternative understanding of major socio-political events through individual narratives. Informed by his training in architecture and sculpture, his work investigates paradoxes in the built environment and its history by way of installations that reconstitute the perception of physical and temporal distance.

His recent and upcoming shows include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Parasol Unit in London, The Louvre in Paris, Carré d’Art in Nîmes, Kunstverein in Hamburg, and Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam. His work was featured in Manifesta 12, the 21st Biennale of Sydney, the 15th Istanbul Biennial, the 32nd São Paulo Biennial, the 6th Marrakech Biennale, the 10th & 12th Sharjah Biennial, and the 2nd New Museum Triennial.