Introducing the Northport Collection: Tradition Informs the Contemporary Spirit

presented by Landscape Forms

Encompassing benches, area and path lighting, litters, bike racks, planters and bollards, the new Northport Collection offers a modern reinterpretation of the design lexicon that is foundational to so many revitalized towns and cities, historical centers, and main street districts.

Landscape Forms has a long and storied history collaborating with Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA), the iconic NYC-based architecture firm and renowned authority on modern traditional design. The Northport Collection builds upon their previous collaborations, experiences and successes, embracing design history while enhancing a forward-looking sense of place.

A defining aspect of RAMSA’s approach to modern traditional architecture is a philosophy of “designing everything from towns to tabletops,” an approach that emerged with the late 19th and early 20th century designers, planners, and architects from whom they derive inspiration. Exploring Northport’s comprehensive offering, this holistic design philosophy immediately becomes clear. And to truly embrace the character of landscape architecture’s past and to authentically celebrate the communities it defines, the design teams delved deeply into the design precedence that would inform Northport.

For the collection’s site furnishings, Landscape Forms and RAMSA specifically looked to the seminal cast iron work of Swedish Modern Classical architect Folke Bensow and the unique back-to-back benches found throughout the historic Tuileries and Luxembourg gardens in Paris as the guiding early 20th century inspirations. Folke Bensow’s design language is truly timeless—his forms are at one time evocative of an era yet also crafted with such simple elegance that they still seem fresh today. Similarly, the Tuileries and Luxembourg gardens are milestones in the history of landscape architecture, directly informing the design and flow of modern traditional parks, plazas and promenades across the US. And in Northport’s site furnishings, these two key influences are synthesized, refined and revised through the lens of modern materials and contemporary design sensibilities.

On the lighting side, the Northport Collection again applies modern refinements and simplified styling to an iconic piece of outdoor design. Drawing inspiration from the ubiquitous acorn streetlamp, Northport lighting merges advanced LED technology and optics with an homage to the traditional-style lights deeply rooted in American landscape design heritage. Rather than as a glass globe, the “acorn” form elegantly appears in the negative space between the arms at the top of each luminaire.

Together, Northport’s elements evoke a warm, emotional connection to the past while still feeling and performing authentic to the now. The collection’s mission is to offer designers and landscape architects a cohesive palette to help cities and towns modernize and evolve in a way that genuinely celebrates their sense of place and their historic spirit.