The five sleeper and concrete seats designed by Otago Polytechnic students are part of a $600,000 Dunedin City Council upgrade of footpaths and amenities in Vogel St - the first stage of a revitalisation plan for the whole area - due to begin later this year.
The upgrade includes $50,000 for the seats, which will be installed in Vogel St and Bond St, and $50,000 for bespoke lighting, a design for which is yet to be selected.
The council initially set aside $500,000, including seats and lighting, for the project last year. The extra funding comes from existing budgets.
Council heritage policy planner
Glen Hazelton said by the middle of next year Downers would have built out sections of the Vogel St footpath to create paved areas for pedestrians to sit and spend time, and installed trees and other plantings and street furniture including bins and stainless steel hoop cycle stands.
Parking affected would be offset by changes elsewhere, including more angle parks in Water St.
Other creative bespoke elements, including an entranceway to the area at the Rattray St end of Vogel St and an art installation under the Jetty St overpass, would follow in time, as would expanding the same street design elements to Bond St, and eventually Princes St.
Dr Hazelton said it was expected the seats, which referenced a historic jetty from the area and the Dunedin sound of the 1980s and '90s, would be a talking point around the city.
The seats were commissioned by council staff, in accordance with a council resolution that art and design should be incorporated in revitalisation work in the area.
The design was selected by a panel that included himself, Toitu Otago Settlers Museum exhibitions designer Tim Cornelius and council community arts adviser Cara Paterson, urban designer Peter Christos and transportation operations senior contract supervisor Peter Hughes, from eight tenders from local and national parties.
Proposals ranged from traditional to abstract designs, but the chosen design was judged the most innovative and unique, and also best met the design brief, which included requirements to reflect the diverse contemporary and historic cultures of the area, and perform as safe, functional outdoor seating.
The panel was also attracted to the ''organic forms and element of surprise in the design'' as the local production and design of the proposal.
''The seats are seen to add a new and interesting component to an area where change and evolution, like the ebb and flow of the tides, are an essential part of the area's history and future.''
The seats embraced the change and diverse history of the area, including the pre-European natural history of the area (the wave-like organic form), the area's sailing and industrial past (sail-like shapes), the element of change (juxtaposition of materials) and cultural history (band lyrics etched into the seats), rather than only interpreting one period of the area's history, he said.
The panel felt the dialogue and interest the seats would create was valuable and would reflect the intent of the revitalisation plan.
Otago Polytechnic executive project manager D'Arcy Dalzell said she was confident the design would contribute to making the area an active and energetic space again, according to the design brief.
Developer Stephen McKnight, whose company finished upgrading the Donald Reid warehouse in Vogel St earlier this year, said it was great the area had ended up with something people would come and look at, rather than something that blended in, in a bland way.
''Some of these things won't please everybody, but sometimes with design and art that is not the idea. People will talk about it and be interested by it.
The whole idea behind it, with creative people designing interesting things I think is good, and locally made and designed as well.''
Mr Cull said the area was envisaged as a creative quarter, and the seats reflected that.
''They're quite funky and they reflect the fact that some of the best re-use combines heritage and contemporary features.''
As for the other amenity work about to begin, he said it was great that the council was finally honouring its promise to building owners investing in the area, to also do its bit to upgrade the streetscapes.
