The Skøyen bench — a small, smart move in a larger urban development

The Skøyen area is undergoing significant development, with plans for around 5,000 new homes and 3,400 new jobs. At the same time, the area comprises many different properties and stakeholders. This makes it important to consider the urban spaces as a whole and find concrete interventions that can bring more life and better connections.

From urban development to concrete interventions

This was the starting point for the Skøyen Bygulvskart (public realm map), which DARK Design Group and LARK Landskap have taken further through, among other things, the Skøyen Design Festival and concrete initiatives in the public realm.

“We wanted to help make Skøyen a more inclusive central area with public meeting places. Skøyen is an area with a limited public presence, which makes it important for private stakeholders to come together to create a more accessible city,” says Charlotte Helleland, architect and partner at DARK Design Group.

Together with LARK, DARK has worked on how Skøyen can gain more green, inclusive and attractive places to spend time.

“A bench might sound like a very simple intervention, but furniture, planting, lighting and well-designed edge zones are important tools when creating urban life. It’s about creating places where people genuinely want to be,” says Maren Sofie Austnes, landscape architect MNLA at LARK Landskap.

A Vestre piece adapted to its place

When the project group approached Vestre, the aim was to find a bench that could work well across different urban spaces in Skøyen, while also establishing a clear connection to the place.

The choice fell on the Vestre JUNE, designed by Espen Voll, Tore Borgersen and Michael Olofsson. JUNE is universally designed and developed to work across different types of public space.

To give the bench a stronger local identity, JUNE was specially adapted in RAL 3004 Purple Red, Skøyen’s signature colour.

“The Skøyen bench is a good example of how we can take a bench from our collection and adapt it to a place through small adjustments,” says Nicolai Gulliksen, industrial designer and project manager at Vestre AS.

He points out that the JUNE bench’s design has many strengths: it is universally designed, sits well within the cityscape without drawing too much attention, and can be adapted to a visual identity.

“The collaboration with DARK and LARK has been valuable because they came with a clear vision for Skøyen, not just an order. That made it easier for us to find the right solution, and using a consistent purple-red colour is a good example of how much difference a small adjustment can make to the experience of a place.”

For Vestre, this is about more than adapting a product. It’s about how design, architecture and landscape can together contribute to public spaces where people feel welcome and want to spend time: Public Belonging.

“Public Belonging is about designing for inclusion and belonging, not just function. The Skøyen bench shows how a simple piece of furniture can become a symbol that a place is for everyone,” says Gulliksen.

From idea to concrete intervention

Vestre joined the project in the summer of 2025. Together with the project group, it was decided to use JUNE as the starting point and develop a specially adapted version for Skøyen. The bench was finished in February 2026 and was then presented to property stakeholders in the area.

Initially, 20 Skøyen benches will be placed around Skøyen. Agate Utvikling, Storebrand Eiendom, Møller Eiendom, Malling & Co, Gjelsten Bolig, SpareBank 1 Forsikring and Bane NOR are among the stakeholders involved.

The bench therefore becomes a shared intervention across several properties, while further stakeholders can join over time.

“What’s great about this project is that it’s very concrete. You don’t need to wait for the big, finished urban development plan to start making Skøyen better. A bench is a small intervention, but many small interventions together can make a big difference,” says Helleland.

Launching at the Skøyen Design Festival

The Skøyen bench will launch at the Skøyen Design Festival on 4–5 September. Alongside Magne Furuholmen’s artwork, new green initiatives and other projects, the benches will help create more places to pause and spend time in Skøyen.

For Vestre, the Skøyen bench is a concrete example of Public Belonging — how furniture, design and place adaptation can be part of a bigger picture and contribute to more vibrant, inclusive public spaces.

The Skøyen bench is a small intervention. But when several stakeholders make small moves in the same direction, it can add up to something bigger: more places to meet, more life in the public realm and a stronger sense of belonging.