Architizer is thrilled to announce that the 2026 A+Product Awards is open for submissions! The clock is ticking — get your products in front of the AEC industry’s most renowned designers by submitting today.
Loneliness is possibly the quietest epidemic of contemporary life: people walking around staring at their phones, their ears covered with headphones, sharing space but not connection. Still, apart from a personal or psychological issue, loneliness is very much derived from architecture as well. Even though spaces are more open than ever, establishing connections remains hard. Acoustically poor interiors, vast and frictionless public spaces, as well as seating arrangements that act as dividers rather than facilitate conversation, make social interaction increasingly challenging.
There is, however, a very playful solution that can transform any public space into a social hub — furniture. Such furniture, when viewed as social infrastructure and not as décor, can become tools that foster conversations, encourage eye contact and choreograph proximity. As a result, many furniture designers are gradually integrating “social scripts” into their products, covertly structuring human behavior within a space.
Corolle by Maglin Site Furniture | Popular Choice Winner, Best of Year – Positive Impact, 2025 A+Product Awards
One very characteristic example is Corolle by Maglin Site Furniture. The product is an innovative planter that integrates climbing plants as well as bar height tables and circular benches, turning it into a vibrant, outdoor social hub. The urban furniture can be placed in any environment, such as plazas or pedestrianized green spaces, and can be easily transported from one site to the other due to its lightweight construction.
Additional PVC panels can also be attached to offer shading in open spaces. Finally, Corolle’s airy structure allows for optimal airflow by attracting pollinators and filtering harmful air pollutants, thus offering environmental comfort to people and demonstrating how a furniture piece can perform ecologically as well as construct the conditions for social proximity.
Cora by Landscape Forms | Popular Choice Winner, Outdoor Furniture, 2025 A+Product Awards
Similarly, Cora by Landscape Forms is a line of low-to-the-ground tables that serves as a complementary design element for landscapes. The furniture’s form is stylized and distinctly organic, thus offering the ability to nest, stack and layer in different configurations. The design draws inspiration from river rocks, layered treetop canopies and fallen leaves, working both as standalone pieces as well as together, in conversation.
This versatility is further enhanced through a resilient construction, crafted solely using laser-cut steel tops and robust bent steel understructure, along with a highly resistant polyester Powdercoat System that retains color and is water resistant. This outdoor furniture piece transforms exterior spaces that would otherwise act as mere circulation paths into permanent corners for conversation and interaction.
Moving from furniture to partitions, Amani by Renson is a robust aluminum frame that can be customized with elements such as awnings, sliding glass walls, blinds, folding panels, and various roof configurations and accessories. The Amani pavilion offers extensive creative freedom with its modular design, allowing architects to adjust its layout according to the immediate context.
Apart from landscape integration however, this customizability enables the “restructuring” of outdoor space in order to address human interactions. With its extensive modularity, Amani can offer privacy for intimate gatherings or open up the space for larger assemblies, demonstrating how partitions can operate as literal social actants.
Otto Screens and Dividers by Nienkamper | Jury Winner, Contract Furniture, 2025 A+Product Awards
On a similar — albeit interior — note, Otto Screens and Dividers by Nienkamper offers excellent visual and acoustic separation in environments that are in need of privacy while maintaining an open feel. Especially in workplaces, these panels create semi-secluded areas and can also be fitted with bookcases and credenza storage that effectively nest within them.
In parallel, the materials used for the product are double-sided incision-type flexible wood that offer a semi-translucent effect, allowing presence to be perceived naturally, without forcing it. The panels are also designed as both straight and curved partitions, responding fluidly to any spatial configuration.
Lastly, when it comes to multifunctional furniture, Kurtain by Luxxbox stands out as a groundbreaking example. It is a cutting-edge acoustic lighting solution that combines noise reduction, interior lighting and sustainability. The product can be used in an array of spaces such as offices, healthcare facilities, educational institutions and even hospitality venues to reduce noise and playfully light the space. Its elegant form is inspired by the flow of drapery and is made from renewable, naturally sustainable, and fully compostable Camira Blazer wool that can be easily recycled.
Yet, aside from its unique use and design, perhaps its most exceptional advantage is the way it can be placed within a space. Specifically, being primarily a light fixture, Kurtain is ideal for smaller, open-plan spaces that require sufficient acoustic conditions without becoming confined or suffocating. In other words, it proves how technical rigor and performance can enable social ease in otherwise challenging shared environments.
In truth, these products operate as micro-architectures, frequently shaping social spaces more effectively than walls and ceilings. They function as active social mediators through repetitive small-scale spatial gestures that have a very wide impact — especially when used in offices, campuses, healthcare, public space and hotels, where loneliness is oftentimes more visible. Ultimately, these 2025 Product Winners suggest that nowadays the industry values furniture-making through its ability to calibrate public spaces rather than appreciating products based solely on their form and innovative construction methods.
Featured Image: Corolle by Maglin Site Furniture | Popular Choice Winner, Best of Year – Positive Impact, 2025 Product Awards
Architizer is thrilled to announce that the 2026 A+Product Awards is open for submissions! The clock is ticking — get your products in front of the AEC industry’s most renowned designers by submitting today.