CityRacks Winner: It’s a Standing O

Danish Ambassador Torben Getterman accepts on behalf of the winning designers. Photo: Nathan John.

Winners of the CityRacks Design Competition were announced this morning. First place for outdoor rack went to Ian Mahaffy and Maarten De Greeve (Bettlelab) of Copenhagen, whose prototype will be adopted as “the new standard bicycle rack installed on New York City’s sidewalks.” DOT plans to install nearly 5,000 of these in the next three years.

Says the CityRacks blog:

Mahaffy and De Greeve’s design reflects a modern simplicity that will
greatly enhance the City’s streetscape. The rack is round with a
horizontal crossbar, evoking an abstracted bicycle tire. Constructed
of cast-metal, the design is elegant yet sturdy enough to withstand the
harshest street environments.

In addition to the honor of designing the sidewalk rack of the future, Mahaffy and De Greeve received a check for $10,000, courtesy of Transportation Alternatives. Second-place was awarded to Andrew Lang and Harry Dobbs of London, and third-place to Ignacio Ciocchini
of New York.

Two first place winners were chosen in the indoor category: RSVP Studio of New York and Jessica Lee and Anthony Lau of London.

RSVP Studio’s winning indoor design. What you see are “ceiling mounted
bungie-cords and a grooved floor. Its structural grid provides a
secure yet flexible system that could be easily adapted to any building
environment.”

The tandem of Jessica Lee and Anthony Lau shared honors for their “system of three modular pieces that could be installed in an
unlimited number of combinations to conform to rooms large or small,
tall or short.”