Skoop: Turning Construction Waste into Glowing Urban Furniture for Atlanta

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This article covers topics related to Urban Furniture, Expandable Furniture, Furniture Design, Product Design, Street Furniture. A modular seating system built from discarded drywall and photoluminescent concrete transforms overlooked sites into social gathering spaces.

A modular seating system built from discarded drywall and photoluminescent concrete transforms overlooked sites into social gathering spaces.

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The U.S. generates nearly 160 million tons of construction and demolition waste every year. Most of it ends up in landfills. Skoop proposes a different destination: the public realm. The project reimagines discarded drywall as the primary structural material for modular urban seating, layered with glass-fiber mesh and coated in photoluminescent concrete that glows after dark. It is a compact, provocative argument that waste streams and public life can feed each other.

Designed by Laura Sherman and Phebe Tam, Skoop received an Honorable Mention at Urbanscape 2018. The project is sited at the intersection of Ralph McGill Blvd, Courtland Street, and I-85 in Atlanta, GA, a city that ranked fourth nationally for housing permits in 2017 with over 36,000 issued. That construction boom generates enormous waste volumes, and Skoop positions itself directly within that material cycle, proposing a closed loop from demolition site to streetscape.

Five Configurations for Five Types of Gathering

Diagram illustrating five configurations of modular urban furniture for swinging, playing, chatting, rocking and mingling

Skoop is not a single bench but a family of modular configurations, each tuned to a distinct social behavior. The diagram maps five modes: swinging, playing, chatting, rocking, and mingling. Each arrangement repositions the same CNC-cut drywall module into a different spatial relationship, creating environments that serve residents with children and pets, commercial pedestrians and shoppers, and tourists looking for distinctive public spaces. The versatility is key. Rather than designing one fixed object, Sherman and Tam designed a system that can populate underutilized urban land with varied programmatic intensity.

From Landfill to CNC Bed: A Five-Step Fabrication Process

Fabrication sequence showing CNC cutting, adhesive bonding, concrete reinforcement and waterproof coating application

The fabrication sequence is illustrated step by step: waste drywall is collected, patched, and cleaned before being precision-cut on a CNC router into ergonomic forms. Adhesive bonds the cut layers into a composite block with real structural depth. Photoluminescent concrete is then applied as reinforcement, adding both stability and a soft nighttime glow that improves safety without electrical infrastructure. A final waterproof coating seals the assembly for outdoor durability. What could easily read as a speculative material experiment is presented here as a repeatable production workflow, one that any fabrication shop with CNC access could replicate.

Layered Assembly: Metal Dowels, Waste Drywall, and Fluorescent Aggregate

Exploded axonometric drawing detailing the layered assembly of metal dowels, waste drywall, glass fiber and fluorescent aggregate concrete

The exploded axonometric drawing breaks the module into its constituent layers: metal dowels that pin the assembly together, stacked waste drywall sheets forming the bulk of the mass, glass-fiber mesh that provides tensile reinforcement, and an outer shell of fluorescent aggregate concrete. Each layer has a clear structural or performative role. The glass-fiber mesh, in particular, bridges the inherent brittleness of gypsum board, while the photoluminescent concrete transforms the module into an ambient light source after sundown. The material palette is lean, purposeful, and entirely grounded in salvaged or low-impact inputs.

Ergonomic Precision on a Dimensional Grid

Elevation and plan drawing with ergonomic annotations showing reclined body positions and dimensional grid layout

The elevation and plan drawings reveal that Skoop's curves are not arbitrary. Ergonomic annotations map reclined body positions against the module's profile, ensuring that the geometry supports comfortable sitting and lounging postures. A dimensional grid underlies the layout, allowing modules to snap into varied arrangements while maintaining consistent spatial relationships. The drawings demonstrate a level of rigor that lifts the project beyond the conceptual: these are buildable forms calibrated to the human body, not sculptural gestures.

Why This Project Matters

Skoop makes a persuasive case that sustainable design does not have to look austere or feel like a compromise. By starting with one of the most unglamorous waste products in the construction industry, drywall, and ending with a glowing, ergonomically tuned piece of street furniture, Sherman and Tam demonstrate that material innovation and public delight can coexist. The photoluminescent concrete is the standout move: it eliminates the need for powered lighting while turning each module into a soft beacon that marks gathering space after dark.

More broadly, the project challenges the disposability logic that drives rapid urban expansion. Atlanta's construction boom is a test case, but the waste arithmetic applies to every growing city. Skoop suggests that the byproducts of development can be redirected into the very public infrastructure that development often neglects. It is a circular proposition, modular enough to scale and specific enough to sit in.