23 Oct 2020

Bus stop nominated for international design award

The bus stop, Station of Being at Umeå University has been nominated for Beazley Designs of the Year 2020, which will be presented by London Design Museum. Station of Being is one of three nominees in the transport category.

- This is really big. To just be nominated for such a prestigious award is a feather in the cap, both for the people who have been working with the design of the bus stop, but also for Umeå Municipality that wants to invest in this kind of innovative solutions, says Carina Aschan, strategic developer at Umeå Municipality.

London Design Museum writes about how the Station of Being, with its welcoming and stress-free environment, encourage travellers to use public transportation more often. The smart roof of the bus stop uses light and sound to alert the travellers that a bus is approaching. Each bus line also has its own unique sound. The wooden bellows that are hanging from the ceiling rotates automatically to protect travellers from the weather and to create opportunities for interaction in social spaces.

During the year that passed since the grand opening, the bus stop has been assessed well-functioning. The design with the innovative sound and light, together with the separation between the waiting zone and the boarding zone enables faster boarding and thus helps to save energy for the electric buses.

The bus stop, which is a part of the EU project Ruggedised, has been designed by the Dutch designer Rombout Frieling together with the research institute RISE, Umeå.

The winner of the Beazley Designs of the Year 2020 will be decided after voting procedure running until November 10th. A prize jury determined who the winners of the different categories are, as well as the overall winner of the competition.

Carina Aschan says that the bus stop attracts a lot of attention in the international network of the municipality. There have been several booked visits from cities around Europe, including a representative of the City of Gdansk in Poland, who has been in place to get inspiration for their own development of bus stops.

Jeroen Peeters, Senior Design Researcher, who has worked with the development of the Station of Being considers the London Design Museum correct in their assessment.

- The prize jury really confirms the image we have that the design of the bus stop gives the traveller time to just be and it protects from wind and weather, as well as giving the future modern and sustainable public transports a face, says Jeroen Peeters.

 

Text: Umeå kommun
Picture: Samuel Pettersson