26. Innovative Urban Furniture

Location: El Ejido Park, central playground, and El Arbolito Park

The project consist in a students’ competition to create sustainable solutions and a range of urban furniture. The competition was targeted to innovative university students willing to create solutions for sustainable and functional street furniture that can be easily replicated to be installed among public spaces and create an interaction with people. This competition tested the creativity, innovation and skills of 71 multidisciplinary teams from 7 different universities in the country. The jury consisted of one delegate from the United Nations, the Municipality of Quito, urban planners, a delegate from UNACEM Ecuador and a delegate of the Association of Architects of Pichincha. The main objective of this initiative is to involve citizens in a more sustainable design of cities and at the same time influence the planning of their spaces refining construction techniques. The urban furniture will remain in the urban public spaces as a legacy to the city. The three finalists of the contest, who will be exhibited at the Habitat Village are: Biohor furniture (Carina Vaca, Marilyn Rosero, Michelle Perez and Richard Bolaños); Flexible furniture (Diego Fonseca, Gabriela Vasquez, Carlos and Luis Rivadeneira Masabanda) and Morphology Neo Andino (David Alarcón and Pablo Betancourt). The finalists will be exhibited from October 3, the jury will give its verdict on 11 October.