KALAMAZOO, MICH.—Landscape Forms, North America’s leading designer and manufacturer of high-design site furniture, structure, LED lighting and accessories, celebrates another highly-awarded year in 2023, receiving 27 design awards and recognitions from leading industry organizations and publications.
Product design awards from 2023 span the company’s extensive offering, honoring excellence, innovation, and outstanding sustainability efforts in the design of outdoor site furnishings, lighting, and adaptable structure. Rising through the rigorous selection processes, three products especially captured the imaginations of juries in 2023: The Theory line of street and transit furnishings, the Backdrop modular outdoor structure system, and the Typology Collection of seating and lighting.
Winner of multiple awards including a GOOD DESIGN Award and Architectural Record’s Product of the Year, Theory was a standout in urban and street furniture in 2023. Theory is a collection of transit site furnishings designed by Scott Klinker to elevate moments in motion by combining familiar streetscape elements with expressive pieces that offer the aesthetic appeal of modern art. It juxtaposes sculpture and functionality, using non-prescriptive design to inspire playfulness and discovery, encourage unique interpretation by its users, and spark designers’ creativity.
“Theory is a ‘platform product’ that can be scaled and composed to fit the diverse needs of different projects,” says designer, Scott Klinker. “The collection’s settings can range from the highly artistic to the highly functional—from very abstract forms that invite interpretation, to very prescribed forms that suggest one clear use. This range of expression is achieved with a very minimal form language, designed for absolute simplicity to fit into a variety of architectural contexts.”
Backdrop & Its Success
Another multi-award-winner with recognitions that include two Gold Certifications in the Grands Prix Du Design and Architectural Products’ Product Innovation Award, Backdrop, an adaptable structure system of modular panels and accessories designed in collaboration with KEM STUDIO, was also met with great acclaim in 2023. Engineered for virtually endless layouts, functionality, and degree of enclosure, Backdrop is designed to activate underutilized areas with purpose and meaning, encourage creativity, and easily adapt to unique site opportunities.
“We’re honored and thrilled to continue our collaboration with Landscape Forms, creating product lines that connect people with engaging outdoor spaces,” says Jonathon Kemnitzer, IDSA, co-founder and principal of KEM STUDIO. “Backdrop has a way of making unique outdoor space easy. We’re excited that the initial response and the recognition from the design awards competitions shares that philosophy of making space better outside, so people can better enjoy the outdoors. We’re excited that people see the value in engaging the outdoors, and we believe Backdrop plays a big part in creating these destinations that uniquely make life better.”
Winner of two coveted Red Dot Awards and the 2023 SIT Furniture Design Awards Design of the Year, the Typology Collection was another product that particularly resonated with juries in 2023. Designed in collaboration with Designworks, a BMW group company, Typology is an innovative seating and lighting collection that adds dynamic new dimension to any site, enveloping the visitor—both from above and below—in an immersive design experience. Systematic and adaptable, it lives comfortably in both new and existing architectural environments, guiding the movement of traffic and creating unique, three-dimensional spaces that invite and connect, surprise, and inspire.
“In cities we’re often lacking visual perspective, limited by a closed-in and claustrophobic view of the world,” says Tobias Adami, Creative Director at Designworks. “So, our intention with this collection is to play in both the vertical and horizontal spaces of urban environments, to draw the eyes up into the sky, and to join the two domains with signature design elements both in the air and on the ground.”
See the full list of all Landscape Forms’ awards received in 2023.
