Vanemuise Street

Vanemuise Street in Tartu is lined with illuminated street furniture: fourteen Timpan benches, each a seat and a light in one. Timpan takes its name and shape from the timpani drum, curved seating pods gathered around a centre. That a drum sits on the street of the Vanemuine theatre is a coincidence, and a good one.

Location: Tartu, Estonia
Year: 2020
Architect: AB Artes Terrae
Client: Tartu City Government
Photography: Uku Peterson

Timpan benches along a sunlit Vanemuise Street promenade with pedestrians, Tartu

Timpan public seating on Vanemuise Street in daylight, a car passing behind, Tartu

Mother and child walk past a Timpan bench near the Vanemuine theatre, Tartu

We rotomould each bench from semi-transparent white polyethylene with the LED built in, so the whole shell glows. An illuminated bench lights a street differently from a lamp on a pole. The light sits low, on the seat and the pavement around it. On Vanemuise Street it is a warm 3000K, and the benches can join the city’s lighting network and dim with it.

Row of illuminated Timpan benches leading to a lit building entrance at night, Tartu

Timpan bench glowing from within at dusk, teak top above a lit polyethylene bowl, Tartu

The seats are high quality synthetic teak on waterproof plywood, a decking made for boats. It looks like teak, is non-slip wet or dry, and never needs sanding or oiling. The UV-resistant polyethylene shell stands up to vandalism, and a pressure wash takes off dirt or graffiti.

Woman and child seated on a Timpan bench as a cyclist passes on Vanemuise Street, Tartu

Each illuminated bench is 1000 mm wide and 415 mm high at the seat. It bolts down through its base, and the LEDs stay accessible for service.

Timpan illuminated street furniture glowing at night as a person walks a dog, Tartu

Three Timpan benches glowing beside stone gateposts after dark, Vanemuise Street, Tartu

The Vanemuise Street installation was nominated for the Estonian Landscape Architects Union annual award in 2021. Timpan is one of un-like’s standard benches, an illuminated bench we make as a stock piece. We tune it to the project, down to the light temperature, and install it where a street needs seating and light. See more of our illuminated furniture.