Plains & Pods™
Plains & Pods™ are bringing a new level of depth to the design of the public square. Two sibling products created in collaboration between Landscape Forms and London-based design studio Industrial Facility, Plains & Pods embrace the potential of non-prescriptive design to elevate, humanize and personalize public outdoor space. Designed to either work independently or together in concert, Plains & Pods are united around the concept of layering—both in the physical sense and in the experiential sense—to create well-rounded, multi-dimensional settings that prioritize the freedom and expression of their users.
Rectilinear, bold and architectural, Plains are large-format beams and platforms that vary in height and width to create multifaceted settings that speak to their users’ individuality. Laying down, stretching out, perching, sitting cross-legged, sharing space with strangers—activities that might feel counterintuitive on a ‘conventional’ bench feel natural on Plains. Accompanying the range of Plains modules, optional metal backs and attaching side tables create installations with a level of specificity, detail and variety only rivaled by custom solutions. Plains can branch, network, stair-step, overlap, crisscross, create runs and more to enable the full freedom of design in three dimensions.
The curvilinear counterpart to Plains, Pods seats and planters are designed to be grouped together in tiered clusters of respite space and attractive greenery. Sprouting organically from the ground, groupings of differently sized Pods modules give users the opportunity to determine exactly how they interact with space and with one another. From open and welcoming communal zones, to areas for privacy and single seating, to quick touch-down points around the periphery, archipelagos of Pods bring social and aesthetic depth to the landscape. Short Pods planters share footprints with the wood-topped seats to create cohesive installations, while tall Pods planters are used to bring height, space definition and visual variety.
Plains & Pods individually bring creative depth, layered multi-functionality and user freedom to the landscape, but together their impact is magnified. Interplay between Plains’ crisp right angles and Pods’ organic curves offer artful aesthetic richness, and combination installations create a variety of opportunities for unique social experiences. These types of combined installations enable Plains & Pods go deeper into determining the social ambiance of a space, seeing solo versus communal not as a binary, but as a continuum along which there can be many nodes for many different types of interaction.
