Design Museum Boston invites individuals and groups from around the world to design an iconic bench or ‘street seat’ for the Fort Point Channel in South Boston’s up and coming Innovation District. The Street Seats Design Challenge provides you with an opportunity to improve the livability of a burgeoning urban area while being socially and environmentally conscious. Boston’s Fort Point Channel area is a lively community and destination — in 2011 the area welcomed about 1,300 businesses, 33,000 workers, and 1,900 residents — and it’s continuously expanding.

Be inspired by the rich history of the Fort Point community and the possibilities of Boston’s Innovation District to create public seating made from sustainable materials and processes.

Street Seats is a design challenge which will culminate in an outdoor design exhibition and walking tour around the Channel, on view from April to October 2013. Entrants will participate by designing sustainable outdoor sidewalk furniture with a focus on reuse, using environmentally-friendly materials, and innovative construction methods. Design teams will record and submit their process along with their final designs to, in the end, create the outdoor public design exhibition.

Street Seats is supported by the City of Boston, Mayor Thomas M. Menino — in July Design Museum Boston received a $20,000 grant, part of the Pilot Fort Point Watersheet Activation Grant Program administered by the Boston Redevelopment Authority.