barricade 2.0 transforms metal barriers into innovative street furniture

Barricade 2.0 by students Amit Martin Mansharof and Ofir Danino reimagine the commonly used metal barrier as a street object that evokes urban dialogue through form and purpose. Considering the street as a dynamic space full of permanent and temporary objects, the team reconstructs the barrier by cutting simple patterns and reassembling them to create portable seating modules that return to the public sphere. Extracting the barrier from its original function, the project forms a new design language, while maintaining its rough presence. The object’s character transforms turning the act of blocking into inviting atmospheres. The project imposes questions concerning the ownership of the street, exploring who possesses the authority to influence and alter it, as well as unraveling the dynamics of power within the public sphere.

all images by Amit Martin Mansharof

Jerusalem stands as a crossroad of cultures navigating contemporary urban complexities that set the stage for their exploration of the city’s dynamic streets, where daily life unfolds amidst a tapestry of objects, scents, and sounds. Barricade 2.0 focuses on a specific object in the public space, the crowd control barrier that has become so identified with our streets. In a local-subversive move, this guerrilla act by two designers engages with the familiar metal barriers that define urban spaces. Through simple incisions and innovative reassembly, the objects evolve into portable seating, harmonizing with the city’s rhythm. Employing bent aluminum tubes, rivets, and ready-made components, the project forges a design language that reframes the barriers’ purpose, intertwining structure with aesthetics.

extracting the barrier from its original function, the project forms a new design language

The project operates on two parallel axes, the anthropological resource alongside the physical design. The analytical part of the work includes a booklet that showcases the research, collection of academic insights, and the street acts performed. Among them, the act of monitoring a barrier and following its movement throughout the country in several locations, during a period busy with demonstrations and public events.

The design examines and incorporates the barrier’s physical components and properties, such as the length, materiality, verticality, grids, mobility, radii, and angles, embedding them within the new object. Thus the element is taken from the street and returned back after discarding its original purpose and values. Driven by the object’s raw, assertive form, the design reshapes its identity into an urban icon conveying aesthetics, urbanity, and structural logic. The work displays the designers’ dual roles as both creators and curators, unraveling the layers of power and influence within the dynamic streetscape. With an assemblage of six distinct objects, the versatile design project evokes an interplay between barriers and furniture.

The project is part of the final project in the industrial design department, Bezalel Academy of Design, Jerusalem.

the design language reframes the barriers’ purpose, intertwining structure with aesthetics

the blocking element is taken from the street and returned back after discarding its original purpose