ZEMSO’s “Boyu Guanhai” Smart Bus Shelter for Fengxian Museum Wins French Design Award

For urban public spaces, a bus shelter has never been simply a facility for providing shelter from the rain or a place for passengers to wait. When located around a cultural space such as the Fengxian Museum in Shanghai, it also needs to answer an important question: How can a public facility establish a meaningful connection with the city’s culture, architecture, and surrounding environment?

ZEMSO’s answer is “Boyu Guanhai.” Designed specifically for the area surrounding the Shanghai Fengxian Museum, this Smart Bus Shelter draws inspiration from “Shanghai Fish,” a distinctive cultural landmark of Fengxian. It transforms the city’s cultural identity into a recognizable product form while integrating smart public transportation services, seating, lighting, and other functions into the overall design.

Recently, the “Boyu Guanhai” Smart Bus Shelter, which combines natural forms with an innovative interpretation of urban space, stood out among numerous entries and won the Platinum Award at the French Design Awards. View the Award Details: https://frenchdesignawards.com/winner-info.php?id=4772

Inspired by the “Fish,” Giving the Form a Sense of Life

The “Boyu Guanhai” Smart Bus Shelter represents an exploration by the ZEMSO design team into the public space surrounding the Shanghai Fengxian Museum. The design draws inspiration from the curved lines of a fish’s body, its graceful swimming posture, and the rhythm of flowing water. These elements are transformed into the sweeping contours of the shelter roof and the forward-reaching dynamic of the overall structure.

By drawing inspiration from the surrounding space and translating environmental characteristics into a distinctive product language, the “Boyu Guanhai” Smart Bus Shelter becomes a truly customized design that responds to its specific urban context.

Making Function an Integral Part of the Design

For a Smart Bus Shelter, design is not limited to its appearance. Screens, lighting, seating, and various smart functions all need to be integrated into the overall design.

“Boyu Guanhai” creates a more natural relationship between its different functions and the overall structure. Equipment, structure, and space are seamlessly integrated. Functions are no longer “components” added at a later stage. Instead, they become an integral part of the design from the very beginning.

Integrating function into design and allowing technology to serve design is the balance that this project achieves between form and practicality.

From a Bus Shelter to a Comprehensive Urban Furniture Solution

Winning the Platinum Award at the French Design Awards is not only recognition of the “Boyu Guanhai” Smart Bus Shelter’s design. It also validates a broader approach to urban furniture design: Start with the city, rather than the product. Define the product through the specific scenario, rather than adapting a standard product to the environment.

This design philosophy extends far beyond bus shelters. Smart solar bench, digital signage & wayfinding, bus stop digital signage, urban service kiosk, and other forms of urban furniture can all become an integral part of urban space design.

For ZEMSO, design is not simply about providing a “device” for a city. Instead, it starts from specific urban scenarios and combines concept design, product design, and smart technologies to create urban furniture that truly integrates into the city and becomes part of its identity.

If your city is planning Smart Bus Shelters, urban furniture projects, public space upgrades, or urban image renewal, ZEMSO welcomes the opportunity to work with you. Together, we can start from the needs of each project and discover a design solution that truly belongs to your city.