I Want This In My City (8 Photos)

Good public design solves a problem—and gives the city more character.

A giant umbrella shelters a doorway, a bench reveals a dry side after rain, and a crosswalk becomes a red-carpet arrival.

These eight ideas blur the line between public art and practical design. Some became lasting landmarks; others were prototypes or temporary interventions.

More: See 20 Designs That Bring Creativity Into Public Space

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☂️ Giant Umbrella Awning — By an Uncredited Designer in Novosibirsk, Russia 🇷🇺

A giant umbrella leans into the pavement as if someone far too big for the street left it behind. Its canopy shelters the shop entrance, turning one unforgettable silhouette into a sign, a shelter, and a street landmark.

💡 Location Fact: The umbrella stands above a shop entrance at 29 Bohdan Khmelnytsky Street. Novosibirsk News dates the awning to the late 1990s. Makers of Siberia says it is often misattributed to architect Gennady Arbatsky, whose sculptures appear elsewhere in the district, but identifies it as a shop canopy. Neither local source names the designer.

More: See 12 Urban Design Ideas Every City Could Use

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🌧️ “The Rolling Bench” — By Sung Woo Park and Team in Seoul, South Korea 🇰🇷

When rain soaks the top, turn the crank and the wooden surface rotates to reveal a dry side. It is a simple mechanical answer to a familiar city problem.

💡 Design Fact: Sung Woo Park’s portfolio identifies The Rolling Bench as a 2007 Samsung Design Membership MDP project and frames turning the handle for the next user as a small act of public consideration. iF Design credits Sung Woo Park, Yoon Ha Paick, Ban Seok Yoon, Jong Deuk Son, Min Jung Sim, and Eeun Bee Cho. Neither source documents it as a permanent street installation.

More: See 27 Creative Benches Worth Traveling For

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🌈 “Rainbow Stairs” — By Hüseyin Çetinel in Istanbul, Türkiye 🇹🇷

One long grey climb became a ribbon of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. The handrail still divides the staircase, but the color makes the entire route feel shared.

💡 City Fact: Archnet records that retired forestry engineer Hüseyin Çetinel painted 145 steps between Fındıklı and Cihangir over four days in August 2013. They stand on Salıpazarı Yokuşu. Reuters reports that the municipality repainted them grey on 30 August 2013, prompting rainbow staircases elsewhere in Istanbul and Türkiye. Reuters also explains that a widely shared 2015 demolition photo showed infrastructure work; the stairs were later rebuilt and repainted. Çetinel said he wanted to make people smile, not make a political statement.

More: See How Rainbow Stairs Spread Across Türkiye

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🟡 “Stadtmöbel DN_100” — By Oliver Schau in Hamburg, Germany 🇩🇪

Bright yellow drainage tubing wraps around an existing metal railing and becomes a place to sit. The intervention needs no concrete base or conventional bench frame; it borrows the structure already there.

💡 Design Fact: The Hamburg University of Fine Arts awarded Stadtmöbel DN_100 one of two first prizes in 2011, describing it as guerrilla design and a tool for empowerment. Studio Pitsch & Schau describes the original DN-100 series as public guerrilla seating made from drainage pipe to question the design, accessibility, and use of public space. The seats were conceived as temporary interventions rather than permanently anchored street furniture.

More: See 24 Creative Sculptures From Around the World

🔗 Visit Studio Pitsch & Schau

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🎸 Guitar Player — By Alex Maksiov at Burnett Transit Center in Houston, Texas, USA 🇺🇸

From the right viewpoint, separate painted stair risers align into one enormous young guitarist. The open blue case lands at street level, making the transit staircase feel like a stage.

💡 Transit Art Fact: Houston METRO identifies Maksiov as the artist and places the mural at Burnett Transit Center, 1450 North Main Street. METRO’s Arts in Transit account connects it to the 2022 Big Walls, Big Dreams festival, when more than a dozen murals were installed across four transit-oriented sites. The authority originally stated that the works would be displayed and maintained for at least one year.

More: See 10 Public Artworks Inspired by Books and Music

🔗 Follow Alex Maksiov on Instagram

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🌷 Tulpi-Seats — By Marco Manders in the Netherlands 🇳🇱

Closed, they look like a row of bright tulip buds. When one opens, the sculptural flower becomes a personal seat, bringing a familiar Dutch form into everyday street furniture.

💡 Design Fact: Tulpi-Design’s official product page states that the seats are made from LLDPE plastic and stainless steel, are non-porous, and are 100% recyclable. The 2015 A’ Design Award profile credits Marco Manders and notes that each seat closes automatically when the user stands up and can rotate 360 degrees. Tulpi-Design also records that an independent jury named it Most Original Design and awarded it Good Industrial Design recognition at Dutch Design Week in 2011.

More: Explore 27 Benches That Turn Seating Into Art

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🎬 Red Carpet Crosswalk — By Roadsworth in Montréal, Canada 🇨🇦

Painted stanchions and yellow velvet ropes turn a routine zebra crossing into a movie-premiere arrival. Every pedestrian becomes the guest of honor, even if they are only crossing the road.

💡 Street Fact: A 2008 art-history paper documents a related “velvet rope” intervention by Roadsworth on St. Lawrence in Montréal. Art Public Montréal records that Peter Gibson began painting the city’s streets in 2001, initially prompted by the lack of bicycle lanes and Montréal’s car culture. Roadsworth’s official biography describes his stencil-based alterations of urban elements and notes that this early period was documented in the National Film Board co-production Roadsworth: Crossing the Line.

More: See 11 Street Interventions by Roadsworth

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👒 “La Corniche des Chapeaux” — By Benedetto Bufalino and Victor Vieillard in Marseille, France 🇫🇷

Six oversized hats appeared above Marseille’s seafront seating, turning shade into a row of bright sculptural pauses. It was a two-day installation, not permanent street furniture, designed to create shelter without interrupting the panoramic view.

💡 Installation Fact: Victor Vieillard’s official project page states that the proposal was exhibited at Maison de l’Architecture Marseille from 12 June to 8 July 2006, then installed for two days, 6–7 June 2007, on the Corniche Kennedy beside Plage du Prophète. Benedetto Bufalino’s documented artist file records six structures, each measuring 2 × 2 × 1.6 metres, made from resin, fiberglass, paint, metal, and concrete, with production by Centre Design Marseille.

More: See 12 More Public-Space Ideas That Rethink the Street

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Which one is your favorite?