In an effort to improve the quality of time spent waiting for the bus to arrive, Singapore Shifted Perspective when it came to defining “what is a bus stop?” What if the humble bus stop could be a place you actually look forward to frequenting? “We wanted to redesign a commonplace thing we take for granted,” says Seah Chee Huang, director of the Singaporean firm DP Architects. This government-supported product resulted in beautifully designed spaces filled with books, swings, art, and greenery that act more like community gathering places.
The bus stops are smart in more ways than one, as they’re also connected to the library for digital book downloads and powered by solar panels. For spaces that are giving so much to the community that uses them, they don’t cost much to run, which is a win-win for citizens and their government—all the result of a new perspective.