From benches and bar seating to large-scale amphitheaters and everything in between, custom seating can become the defining element of high-profile landscape architecture projects—shaping how people gather, interact and experience a place.
Studio 431, the custom division of Landscape Forms, partners with landscape architects to bring these distinctive elements to life. Combining close creative collaboration with engineering and manufacturing expertise, the team helps translate designer’s visions into durable, precisely crafted site furnishings tailored to the needs of each project.
Studio 431’s work spans a wide spectrum of materials, expressions and typologies, expertly crafting in wood, metal and concrete, and thoughtfully integrating features like lighting, power or mobility. The result is seating that not only welcomes people but also opens up a wealth of new programming possibilities and reinforces a strong sense of place.
At Grand Junction Plaza in Westfield, Indiana, Studio 431 collaborated with DAVID RUBIN Land Collective to realize the park’s flowing Wetland Amphitheater. Inspired by the movement of water, the seating cascades toward Cool Creek in a continuous rhythm of wood and concrete, forming an outdoor performance venue and gathering space that blends seamlessly with the restored riparian landscape.
At University of Michigan’s Gerstacker Grove, Studio 431 partnered with Stoss to fabricate a series of dynamic, undulating benches that function equally as seating and sculpture. Constructed from precast concrete and steel ribs, the benches ebb and flow along key pathways, welcoming informal gatherings while reinforcing the movement and energy of the campus quad.
In Rochester, Minnesota, the Heart of the City project reimagines downtown’s Peace Plaza as a dynamic civic stage. Working with Coen+Partners, Studio 431 engineered a system of large-scale rolling steel platforms clad in warm wood. The elements can be rearranged as benches, dining tables or performance stages, enabling the plaza to shift effortlessly between everyday use and community events.
In Chicago’s Lakeview Low-Line, Studio 431 collaborated with PORT Urbanism on a playful series of seating cubbies beneath the city’s elevated rail tracks. The bright yellow structures combine powdercoated steel and wood to transform a once-overlooked corridor into a photogenic urban destination, offering sheltered places to pause with integrating lighting and power for vendors and community programming.
At Downtown Cary Park in North Carolina, Studio 431 partnered with OJB Landscape Architecture to craft a series of sweeping benches that mirror the park’s sinuous circulation paths. Each piano-keyed wood slat was individually cut to fit precise radii, creating seating that appears elegant and effortless while expertly responding to the complex geometry of the landscape.
Across projects like these, Studio 431 demonstrates how custom seating can operate simultaneously as infrastructure, art and social catalyst. By inviting novel design ambition and responding with expertise and a collaborative spirit, the custom division at Landscape Forms helps landscape architects turn imaginative concepts into enduring elements that welcome people to gather, linger and connect more deeply with the public realm.
Photography
Downtown Cary Park: Tzu Chen Photography
Heart of the City: Corey Gaffer Photography