The document describes several design projects by Manuel Távora and others: - Billboards and flag poles designed for JC Decaux with two variations, aiming to reduce bulkiness. - Street signage for Lisbon neighborhoods designed for JC Decaux to be clearly visible from vehicles and pedestrians while referencing medieval heritage. - Phone booths designed for Portugal Telecom as extruded Reuleaux triangles providing weather protection with glass or steel panels. - Seating and ashtray/bin systems designed for REFER to furnish rail stations with sturdy, easy to clean materials. - Outdoor lounger designed for Serralunga that allows two reclining positions by simply moving one's

1. PRODUCT DESIGNMANUEL TÁVORA

2. JC DECAUX
BILL BOARD & FLAG MAST
Client JC Decaux
Year 1998
Status In use
Design Pedro Silva Dias
Role Assistant Designer: Form Finding
JC Decaux is Europe’s largest out-of-home advertising
company. They produce urban furniture for each
of the cities the furnish, and then share advertising
revenues with each city council. Billboards must hold
two advertising posters, one at each side, a digital
clock and a thermometer. Having won a competition
for the design of new bespoke billboards for Lisbon,
we developed two variations of the winning design for
JCDecaux. n the first model the mast runs along its full
10 m height as is crowned by Lisbon’s flag. The second
is cut diagonally right above the poster frame. Our chief
design goal was to reduce the noticeable thickness
of the frame box, shaping it in such way as it appears
two thin glass and metal sheets. This solution reduces
the bulkiness present in most of this urban furniture,
producing instead a elegant, vertically oriented object.

3. JC DECAUX
LISBON SIGNAGE
Following a commission by JC Decaux and the Lisbon
Council to design new street signage for the city’s
most notable neighbourhoods, we at Pedro Silva
Dias designed a solution that elegantly addresses the
navigation needs of both pedestrians and drivers.
Its scale was carefully fine-tuned to be clearly visible
from both vehicles and passers-by; and its design, while
contemporary in essence, playfully quotes Lisbon’s
medieval heritage in order to seamlessly merge into a
variety of heritage urban fabrics. All sign posts come
with either 1, 2 or 3 panels, solving most local directional
needs. A slight curvature on each panel enables signs to
be visually recognised from an array of subject-object
positions.
Client JC Decaux
Year 1998
Status In use
Design Pedro Silva Dias
Role Assistant Designer: Form Finding

5. PT
PHONE BOOTHS
Client Portugal Telecom
Year 1998-1999
Status In use
Design Pedro Silva Dias
Role Assistant Designer
Portugal Telecom is the largest telecommunications
service provider in Portugal.
Having won an international competition to design
PT’s new phone booths, Pedro Silva Dias and his team
developed two modern steel and glass objects for
nationwide use. Geometrically both are extrusions of
the Reuleaux triangle of constant width curves, which
equips them with three vertical, curved faces.
The first design is a phone kiosk: 3 stainless steel faces
are used to install up to 3 telephones, divided by 3 glass
screens, as well as covered above head height.
The second design is a phone booth: two of those 3
faces are made by large glass panels, providing full
weather protection in a more traditional closed booth
typology.
All electrical wiring is contained inside the steel panelled
structural columns that sustain that shape of both
booths.

7. RESOFLEX SOHO
SMALL OFFICE HOME OFFICE FURNITURE
Resoflex is an northern Portuguese
office furniture manufacturer and were
seeking ideas for high performance
small/home office units.
Mobility and flexibility are the core
features of Soho: a central element
works as a mobile desktop computer
unit that can be either used by itself or
enhanced by a wider work desk/table.
The trolley can be easily wheeled away
from the table, providing a degree of
flexibility important in today’s live/work
patterns.
Client: Resoflex
Year: 1998
Status: Prototype
Design: Manuel Távora

9. FUNNEL TABLE LAMP
This bare, half readymade desk lamp is produced by
the mere assemblage of two cheap, plastic funnels. It is
an exercise in low tech manufacturing with inexpensive
materials, its design relying in the curved line of the
funnel.
The lamp is made simply by slicing the ends of two
white funnels, assembling the parts, and wiring and
plugging it to a power source. The design relies almost
entirely in the curvaceous shape of the said funnels, like
an seductive, glowing hourglass.
Sold out. Available upon request.
Client: Self-initiated
Year: 1999
Status: Limited edition
Design: Manuel Távora

10. SCHRÉDER
PUBLIC LIGHTING
Schréder is a manufacturer
of street light lamps. Their
brief required two designs
to be assembled to
standard, 8 to 12m, steel-
column lightposts.
One design comprises
a large, curved disc
that deflects the light
downwards. In the other,
the light source is enclosed
in glass housing. Light
beams are then deflected
by both the glass and
an inner disk, producing
bounced light and a
glowing halo at night .
Client Schréder
Year 2004
Status Prototype
Design Filipe Alarcão
Role Assistant designer

12. Client: REFER
Year: 2000
Status: Prototype
Design: Manuel Távora
Role: Concept & Design

13. REFER
SEATING SYSTEM
REFER owns the national rail network in Portugal and
is responsible for the design of rail stations and its
furniture. This seating was specifically designed to
furnish their stations. Sturdy and easy to clean, each
set allows 4 to be seated. In lieu of arm rests, seating
areas are defined by bulging folds discouraging people
from stretching across it. The seating shell is made out
of a single sheet of stainless steel, surgically folded
for sound structural performance. This runs along an
i-beam supported by a lightweight steel structure.

14. FORM FINDING & CONCEPT GENERATION IDEA MODEL

15. REFER
ASHTRAY/DUST BIN
Part of the same commission by REFER, this ashtray/
dust bin offers a two-in-one design solution.
Cigarettes can be put out using the top, volcano-shaped
lid, from where they slip into a large ashtray, placed
inside the cylindrical enclosure. Other litter, such as cans
and plastic packaging, must be dropped in any of the 3
windows cut around the core shell.
Client REFER
Year 2000
Status Prototype
Design Manuel Távora
Role Concept & Design

16. Attention! Dirt and scum,
sticky stains and dirty
spots! Watch out! With
this thicket of brushes to
stack the dishes there is
no chance of getting out
of here before you make
a clean sweep. All plates,
glasses, knives, forks and
their ilk can nestle into
Brushwood tightly racked
until they dry (from the
catalogue).
FORM FINDING & CONCEPT GENERATION
IDEA

17. Screenshots of brushes while on sale at London’s Design Museum website
Client: DIM
Year: 2001
Status: currently in production
Design: Manuel Távora
In old Japan a monk is
said to have meditated
for so long that his legs
fell off... he meditated and
meditated until he reached
enlightenment as a lucky
charm in modern Japan.
That old legless monk was
called Daruma. Here, as a
brushette, he swings when
in the mood, always ends
upright and never bows to
the will of others (from the
catalogue).
DIE IMAGINÄRE MANUFAKTUR
TWO BRUSHES

18. FORM FINDING & CONCEPT GENERATION SKETCH

19. Alessi is a world famous
kitchen utensil company
from Italy.
While working at Ron Arad
Associates, we developed
a set of barware utensils.
Pictured here is the
shaker stopper that I was
charged with designing,
in such way that it would
gracefully crown the
object. This lock features
a rubber elliptical ring
that, when compressed,
seals the steel tube. Other
versions include a pliant
ice tong /drainer in spring
steel - featured next page.
Production costs lead us to
a simpler, sturdier design.
Client: Alessi
Year: 2002
Status: Produced; Available
Design: Ron Arad Associates
Role: Assistant Designer
ALESSI
BARWARE SET

23. SERRALUNGA
GARDEN LOUNGER
Client Serralunga
Year 2002
Status Prototype
Design Ron Arad Associates
Role Assistant designer
The Italian manufacturer
Serralunga requested
us an outdoor stacking
lounger. Ron Arad tasked
me with designing a
rotation-moulded stretcher
allowing for two different
lying positions: As a day-
bed, tilting backwards,
and as an easy chair, when
moved forward. Both
positions can be achieved
simply by moving one’s
torso or legs. The chair is
made in polypropylene
and available in a range of
colours.

25. Decorum is a Istanbul
based glass manufacturer.
Following their approach
to develop new ideas in
hand blown glass, Ron
Arad idealized a tea-light
lamp for outdoor use,
where the multiplication
of the flickering flame
would be projected onto
its surface. Inside the
globe and enclosing a
candle lies a perforated
steel sphere. Through
its pinholes, inverted
flame ‘photographs’ are
projected into the outer
globe’s walls, as in a
camera obscura.
The lamp is then hung
from tree branches for
maximum effect in the
dark. Other cylindrical
iterations were produced.
Client Decorum
Year 2003
Status Unknown
Design Ron Arad Associates
Role Assistant designer
DECORUM
OUTDOOR TEA LIGHT

27. DUO
AIRCRAFT LIVERY
Duo Airways was an airline mainly based in Birmingham
and Edinburgh. Brand Environment designed a new
brand identity for the company, conveying cool
exclusiveness in a colour palette of cream, purple and
gold. Part of the my assignment was to develop and
Client Duo Airways
Year 2003
Status Produced
Design Brand Environment
Role Assistant designer
translate that same colour code into aircraft fuselage
and its furnishings and accessories. This task included
repeated visits to Duo’s hangar in Bournemouth to
supervise brand implementation.

28. Winner: 1st
Prize
National Design Competition

29. REVIGRÉS
TWO TILES
Revigrés is a leading manufacturer of indoor and
outdoor tiles. Following a national competition design
competition, which we won, we developed a new
geometrical tile collection for mass production. Loosely
inspired by Portuguese paper and textile patterns, they
Client Revigrés
Year 2004
Status In production
Design Manuel Távora + Susana Soares
make use of two evenly-spaced diagonal dot-grids to
create abstract yet evocative designs.
Both are available through Revigrés outlets and
catalogues. One is offset black on white, while the other
has clear glass spherical lumps in lieu of dots.

31. VISTA ALEGRE
CERAMICS/GLASS SET
Client Vista Alegre
Year 2004
Status Prototype
Design Filipe Alarcão Design Studio
Role Assistant designer
Vista Alegre is a leading
ceramics and glass
manufacturer in Europe.
Having approached
Filipe Alarcão and his
team to devise new
solutions for the home,
we helped design a set
of interchangeable, space
saving plates, containers
and a steel moulded
tray, that could be easily
combined and stored in
small spaces.
It is, we believe, a design
apt for today fast-moving
consumers that enjoy
having their meals in front
of a screen.
The set is microwave and
fridge friendly.

33. LUX
SIDE CHAIR
Client LUX nightclub
Year 2004
Status Produced
Design Filipe Alarcão
Role Assistant designer
LUX is major nightclub in Lisbon. Its interiors are know
for the noticeable volume of 20th century furniture
design classics. Having been assigned to produce a
new chair for frequent use, we developed a simple PVC
side chair on a brushed steel frame. The shell is heat-
moulded and then bolted to the structure. We created a
timeless object fits in well with the surrounding vintage
furniture. The chair is produced in three contrasting
colours, and comes in a shiny plastic finish that makes it
suitable for nightclub environments.

35. Ceranco, a division of the leading Spanish manufacturer
Porcelanosa, commissioned FOA to design an urban
furniture collection comprising seating, waste bin
and bollards. Formally, our concept takes root
in mathematically-generated forms such as the
hyperboloid and the diagrid. These geometries enable
forms such as the bollard and the bin, where straight
steel rods connecting two circles at different relative
points produce a curved, hyperbolic profile. The bollard
top cap contains a light source that is activated at night.
Client Ceranco - Porcelanosa
Year 2009
Status Under development
Design FOA (Alejandro Zaera Polo)
Role Concept Design & Development; Imagery;
Project Management
CERANCO
URBAN FURNITURE
HALF SCALE PROTOTYPES DAYLIGHT NIGHTLIGHT

37. REGGIANI
LIGHTING FIXTURES
Reggiani is an Italian manufacturer of lighting fixtures.
They requested that FOA produced ideas for a desk
lamp and suspended lamp. The latter takes inspiration
in the mechanics of gyroscopes in order to allow for
multiple lighting directions. Our idea was to create a
remotely controlled lighting device where the surface’s
perforation would follow the circle array of a phylotaxis,
the golden spiral. This geometrical pattern is present
in many natural organisms such a flower buds and
growing cacti.
Client Reggiani
Year 2009
Status Under development
Design Foreign Office Architects [Alejandro Zaera Polo]
Role Concept design & development

38. LENGTH = 6.5M; HEIGHT = 2.8M; DEPTH = 2MLENGTH = 6.5M; HEIGHT = 2.8M; DEPTH = 2M
SIDE VIEW - FEATURING 1750 X 1185MM POSTER
side view - featuring 1750 x 1185mm poster

39. BIRMINGHAM
BUS SHELTERS
LENGTH = 6.5M; HEIGHT = 2.8M; DEPTH = 3.4M
SIDE VIEW - FEATURING 2 X 1750 X 1185MM POSTERSSIDE VIEW - FEATURING 2 X 1750 X 1185MM POSTERS
FOA is currently detailing the new Birmingham New Street Station, a major railway
transportation hub of the city and region, that is now being fully refurbished.
In this proposal for new bus shelters for the station and its vicinity, we devised - much
like in the station façade - a number of stainless steel structures of different lengths
and widths that reflect the ubiquitous cloudy Birmingham skies - either inside the
shelter ceiling or outside its roofing. The shape of the shelters is defined by the need
to have and number of advertising and information boards, which are positioned
obliquely to the circulations paths or cars and pedestrians for maximum visibity at
significant distances.
Client Birmingham City Council
Year 2009
Status Proposal
Design Foreign Office Architects [Alejandro Zaera Polo]
Role Concept design & development
LENGTH = 6.5M; HEIGHT = 2.8M; DEPTH = 3.4M

41. EAMES FIBERGLASS CHAIRS
EXHIBITION
The ‘Eames Fiberglass
Chairs’ exhibition, -
designed for the Eames
Gallery & Store space in
downtown Santa Monica,
Los Angeles - traces the
origins and development
of the very first fiberglass
furniture, and celebrates
the ubiquitous ‘plastic shell
The items displayed in
this travelling exhibition,
include a variety of rare
vintage chairs, some
prototypes, earlier
fiberglass shells, a sliced
stacking chair, picture
and text boards, some
prints, a complete back-
lit graphic timeline, and
the Eames-directed film,
‘Fiberglass Chairs’, running
continuously during
visiting hours.
Client Eames Office
Year 2001
Status Produced
Design Eames Office
Role Design
chairs’, now well-known
20th-century classics.