QUIET OCEAN — Modular Outdoor Furniture for the Vladivostok Embankment

Vladivostok. The city sits on hills overlooking Zolotoy Rog Bay and the Amur Gulf. The waterfront is the only flat public space where city residents can access the water.

Monsoon climate: humidity up to 90%, salty mist from the bay, typhoons in the summer, and -25°C in the winter. In summer, the air warms up to +32°C, and the stone surface gets even hotter. The material on the embankment is constantly exposed to saltwater year-round. This is the primary condition from which everything else must be selected.

The Vladivostok Embankment is granite, balustrade, and several kilometers of walking path. There are hardly any places to sit; the existing benches are rare, uniform, and not placed where one wishes to stop. However, the city has a strong image—the ocean and the tiger—which is not reflected in its urban furniture.

The wooden benches placed here dry out and darken from the salt within two or three seasons. Unprotected metal rusts after the very first winter. Stone is cold in the winter and burns in the summer. Furniture must be replaced more frequently than it has time to become part of the place.

Design a modular bench for the embankment that can withstand sea mist and temperature swings from –25 to +32 °C, remains warm to the touch, and can be arranged for various scenarios—from individual seating to a small amphitheater. Each module measures 400 × 400 mm, allowing for any desired configuration.

Modules of varying heights placed in succession can be read as either wave crests or stripes on a tiger’s hide. The difference in height transforms the row of seats into a small amphitheater oriented toward the water.This format will be the one developed.

The straight row of slats along the embankment challenges the horizon, resembling a fence. The gentle curve mirrors the bay’s outline and visually mitigates the wind, while the gaps between the slats allow it to pass straight through—the structure will not sail in a typhoon.Here, the form functions not as decoration, but as calculation.

The promenade varies in width: in some spots, you can fit only one block, while in others, you can fit ten. A standardized size reduces production costs and allows a damaged element to be replaced without dismantling the entire row. A 400×400 mm module is the size a person can easily handle when repositioning it.

In all the examined samples of street furniture, the form is faceless—it would suit any city. I, however, wanted to make it specific to Vladivostok: to read the tiger and the ocean in relief.