Designing for a Connected Coastal Community

• Aura City
• Client - CUSP + Stockland
• Designer - Charles Sanchez-Wentworth + David Shaw
• Year - 2024

Featured Products

• Aura City Backed Bench
• Aura City Bin Enclosure
• Aura City Bike Rack
• Aura City Bollard

Context

Aura is emerging as a vibrant new community within the Sunshine Coast, where urban convenience meets a relaxed subtropical lifestyle. Street + Garden has been entrusted with shaping the public realm of this evolving precinct, working in close collaboration with CUSP and Stockland to deliver bespoke street furniture that elevates everyday experiences while defining the community’s unique character.

Our approach for this stage centred on a cohesive suite of custom-designed elements, each articulated through a signature flowing perforated pattern – an abstraction of natural coastal rhythms, from drifting clouds to rolling waves. The Aura City Backed Benches unite material richness and sculptural form: a two-tone GRC base grounds spotted gum slats with bullnose edges that echo the base’s contours, while powder coated aluminium backrests feature our bespoke perforation, creating generous, inviting places to pause and connect throughout the precinct. Complementing the benches are tapered bin enclosures, folded aluminium bike racks, and refined bollards – each element carrying the same carefully curated motif to establish a unified visual language throughout the precinct.

Opportunities

This project presented Street + Garden with the opportunity to craft welcoming public spaces that embody Aura’s strong sense of community and its relaxed coastal ethos. Through furniture that is both enduring and expressive, we’ve shaped shared environments that foster gathering, movement, and genuine connection.

Our sustained engagement with Aura represents a meaningful ongoing partnership – one that allows us to contribute thoughtfully to a well-considered, human-centred environment designed to serve and inspire residents and visitors alike for generations to come.