This year, street furniture company mmcité sponsored the third annual "Form Follows" competition at the University of California, Berkeley, which takes students from the College of Environmental Design (CED) and pits them against each other to see who can design a unique and sustainable seating element for landscapes.

The specific focus for this year's competition was to design and build a seating element for the Wurster Hall courtyard that was inspired by manuscripts and designs found in the Environmental Designs Archive.

A preliminary round of judging was completed on October 11 when students presented their designs to a panel of judges that included David Karásek from mmcité, Dana Buntrock, professor of architecture, Richard Hindle, assistant professor of landscape architecture and environmental planning, Elizabeth Thorp, from the CED's fabrication shop and Alex Yarovoy, a CED alumnus.

After the first round of judging, five students were selected to construct their designs and were provided with a single sheet of plywood (4' x 8' x 3/4" thick), finishing materials and $50 worth of steel. On November 8, the five seats were completed and on display in the Wurster Gallery for faculty, students and the general public to vote on the top three best designs.

The top three winners received a cash prize and consideration by mmcité to manufacture their designs in the future. All five full-sized seats are on display at the Environmental Design Library through December 20. https://tinyurl.com/y8742ltk