Danes design best bike rack

After an international competition that drew over 200 entrants, a pair of Danish designers produced a winner in the city’s search for a new bicycle rack design.
Ian Mahaffy and Maarten De Greeve, based in Copenhagen, Denmark were awarded a $10,000 prize for their “hoop” design, one of ten prototypes installed and tested at Astor Place in Manhattan since Tuesday, September 30.
Representatives of the contest organizers: New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan; First Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris; Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Paul Steely White and Paul Warwick Thompson, Director the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum announced the winners of the “CityRacks” design competition on Friday, November 14.
“These winning designs met the CityRacks design competition criteria for attractive, functional and secure bike parking, both outdoor and indoor,” Sadik-Khan said. “The jury was convinced that the Mahaffy and De Greeve design will best meet the city’s bike parking needs and generate greater interest in cycling,” she continued.
Constructed of cast-metal, the “hoop” design - a simple circle bisected by a horizontal bar. It evokes a bicycle wheel and is elegant yet sturdy enough to withstand New York cyclists’ harsh treatment, according to the judges.
DOT intends to use the winning design as the new standard bicycle rack installed on New York City’s sidewalks. Over the next three years nearly 5,000 of these racks will be installed throughout the city.
Harris praised the process, saying, “The CityRacks competition produced a clever piece of street furniture that adds to our city’s streetscape and promotes an environmentally responsible practice.”
The jury also recognized second-place winner Harry Dobbs and Andrew Lang of London and third-place winner Ignacio Ciocchini of New York, with $3,000 and $2,000 prizes, respectively - contributed by Transportation Alternatives.
In addition, two winners in the indoor competition were also selected: RSVP Studio of New York and Jessica Lee and Anthony Lau of London. Both will receive a $5,000 honorarium for their work.
The RSVP design imagined a user-friendly system with ceiling mounted bungee-cords and a grooved floor, providing a secure and adaptable system. Lee and Lau created a system of three modular pieces that could be installed in an unlimited number of combinations to conform available spaces.
The awards marked the finale of a process begun in March, with the announcement that the city was looking for a more appealing design for both indoor and outdoor bicycle racks, to encourage commuter cycling.
Proposals from all three winners can be found at nycityracks.wordpress.com.
“The winning ‘Hoop’ design lets bicyclists lock more parts of their bike, and has a lot more panache than the current CityRacks,” White said, speaking for Transportation Alternatives, one of the competition’s sponsors.