ArtBAR® An innovative mobile urban furniture element that combines safety, aesthetics and recycling.
The ArtBAR® are mobile, artistic elements developed for the implementation of organizational and security solutions primarily in urban public space with an emphasis on the ability to separate shared spaces from motorized traffic when organizing festivals, concerts, sports events, etc. ArtBAR® elements naturally combine the safety and aesthetics required in the public space of towns. The team strongly applied the ideas of "art for streets" and "sustainable recycling" in the design of the element.
National
Czechia
Ústecký kraj, město Chomutov
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-12-12
As an individual in partnership with other persons
First name: Martin Last name: Lidmila Gender: Male Nationality: Czechia Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Nekolného 1955 Town: Beroun Postal code: 26601 Country: Czechia Direct Tel:+420 603 729 669 E-mail:MLidmila@seznam.cz
The ArtBAR® project is the result of community research in response to "big" grant projects that are burdened with a huge number of rules, including economic and bureaucratic ballast. The aim of the ArtBAR® project was to use the principles of community work to design and produce a mobile art element suitable for the implementation of organisational security solutions, especially in urban public space.
The project actively brought together artists, civil engineers, security professionals and students to create a functional alternative to the currently used organisational security features known as the Jersey barrier on the road.
An important impulse for starting the project was the aesthetic appearance of the existing concrete transport - organisational elements installed during for example, the city's Christmas markets and the difficult security situation in the area of soft targets. The existing elements evoke a state of war rather than a Christmas atmosphere among the inhabitants.
The community chose the working name "ArtBar Group" and established the basic rules of operation in May 2022 by means of an "Agreement on the modification of rights and obligations to the results of the project".
As part of the ArtBAR® project, an element labeled "CAT" was successfully designed and manufactured. The "CARP" and "BIRD" elements were graphically elaborated.
The "CAT" element was prepared and implemented in cooperation with STRIX Inženýring, spol. s.r.o. based in Chomutov and STRIX Chomutov, a.s., including the commercialization continuation of the project.
Security
Creativity
Sustainability
Research
Modifications
We consider the application from 2019 to the 1st public competition of the DOPRAVA 2020+ program with an expected amount of support of approx.CZK 23.4 million for a period of 3 years to be the basis for the idea of community research and development in the field of a mobile element of urban mobility. The application was unsuccessful because the evaluation system failed to actively work with the aesthetic visual of the proposed element. As a result, the "ArtBar Group" community was established to look for a way forward.
The community project, called "ArtBar Group", was with a very minimal economic background but with strong technical and knowledge capabilities. Common technical and technological resources were designed and sought within the community to ensure that the economic burden of the entire "CAT" element project was extremely minimal. Thus, an approach known as PPR - price/performance ratio while maintaining the required technical parameters - was strongly followed. The direct material costs for the development of the "CAT" element, including two functional pieces, amounted to about
300 000 CZK, which is approx. 80x less than the original national grant project. The salary costs were waived by all members of the community.
Strong economic pressures led the research community to use internal resources, including the provision of free workshop space and the use of sustainable recycling principles. A special formulation of concrete was used for the production of the elements, which contained only aggregate produced by recycling railway concrete sleepers. For the reinforcement of the "CAT" elements, technological leftovers from the unique high - carbon steel twin - twist nets with corrosion protection Galfan, which are used for the protection and rehabilitation of rock objects, were used.
To ensure max.contact between the bottom surface of the element and different types of surfaces, commercial rubber mats-plates made from shredded car tyres - were used.
The project follows the media calls "Art for the City" (Attachment No.: 1) and "SCULPTURE PROJECTS FOR PUBLIC SPACES IN PRAGUE" (Attachment No.: 2). Based on these public calls directed to the aesthetics of public space, the idea of designing the ArtBAR® elements in such a way that the safety-technical function is naturally linked to the aesthetic requirements of public space in cities and municipalities. At the same time, the design and production technology of the element was designed so that, if required, the element could also respect to some extent the approach called "Genius loci".
Before the design of the first shape of the element, the topical issue of nationality and religious neutrality was intensively discussed within the community. The design community clearly agreed that the requirements of nationality and religious neutrality were best met by animal shapes, and after implementing the mechanical requirements, the shape of a reclining cat was chosen for the first element. The aim was to produce an element that at first glance would evoke a lightweight ceramic material with a glossy white surface. The actual design of the shape was realized by the renowned artist with international experience Mrs.Jitka Kůsová.
The correctness of the choice of the shape of a lying cat was confirmed during the installation of the elements at the Christmas market in Chomutov. The positive public response was presented in the media space, for example, here: http://mesto.chomutov.cz/clanky/deti-z-materskych-skolek-zdobily-vanocni-park.
A special reward for the "ArtBar Group" was the positive reactions of the children, who in no way recognized that this was a security feature against, for example, a terrorist attack by a car. The community took advantage of this effect and organized the possibility of additional colorful "decorating" of the elements by kindergarten children, including a competition for the best artistically painted "CAT".
The aim of the ArtBAR® community project was to develop and implement an innovative multifunctional element of urban furniture. Since most of the members of the ArtBar Group community and supporting companies have their permanent residence or headquarters in Chomutov, the development of the element was consulted with representatives of the city of Chomutov from the very beginning. The City of Chomutov and "Grupa ArtBar" have agreed that the first practical deployment of the "CAT" element can be realized within the framework of the 2022 Christmas market.
Representatives of the City of Chomutov discussed the future cost of the "CAT" element and recommended that two economic approaches be developed for future use. A "lease the element" model and a "sell the element" model. The decision criterion can then be the planned use of the element - short-term (days, a month) will be associated with renting, long-term (several months to years) will be associated with selling. In the case of the option labelled "element rental", the "ArtBar Group" had to solve the issue of storage of elements, which is demanding on storage space. It was possible to reach agreements with STRIX Chomutov, a.s. on renting the necessary storage space in their production area free of charge.
The ArtBAR® "CAT" project has been designed including the possibility of deploying an innovative technical solution enabling the interconnection of multiple individual elements using the patented PROBAR® brake rope system. After the public presentation of the ArtBAR® "CAT" element during the Christmas Market 2022 in Chomutov, the "ArtBar Group" community was contacted by the public to ask if the ArtBAR® "CAT" element could be purchased for private use as a garden architecture element. This was the impetus for the design team to create a variant called "CAT - garden", removing some of the internal fittings while maintaining the shape and making it cheaper.
The turning point of the whole project was the presentation of the ArtBAR® element "CAT" to the public during the Christmas Market 2022 in Chomutov, which took place in the city park. For this event, the "ArtBar Group" community produced 13 pieces in extremely makeshift conditions. The aim of the installation was to organize the entry of supply vehicles into the park so as not to damage the grass areas.
On the very first day after the installation, the elements became very popular with young children and the idea of organising an art competition for kindergarten children was born within the community. Each kindergarten in Chomutov was given one white "CAT" and a set of paints to color or draw its appearance. The "ArtBar Group" community provided a jury of artists, small prizes and a venue for the announcement. At the same time, this provided a practical test of whether the proposed white paint meets the anti-vandal protection and the surface is therefore easy to clean.
The main and unique involvement was in the form of the formation of the community group "ArtBar Group". The ArtBar Group consisted of academics in the construction field as well as renowned artists, business owners, and manual workers. In terms of socio-economic parameters, the "ArtBar Group" is virtually evenly balanced. This has made it possible to always find a compromise solution when solving problems. Academic and artistic representation was practically confronted online with the possibility of practical to commercial realization, which pushed the project technically and temporally in a positive way.
The successful transfer of the project's ideas and goals from an unsuccessful national grant competition (academic environment) to a community environment is absolutely unique in the Czech Republic. The ArtBAR® project proved that even a community environment with minimal economic background can provide quality outputs often comparable to the outputs of large grant projects. Cooperation with local companies, which want to cooperate and support regional civic activities in the long term, proved to be key.
From the beginning, the ArtBar® project has sought to effectively combine aesthetics, mechanics, sustainable recycling, livability and safety. The core members of the ArtBar Group community were civil engineers with university experience - Assoc. Ing. Martin Lidmila, Ph.D. and Assoc. Ing. Pavel Tesárek, Ph.D., security personnel from Strix engineering and co-owner of Strix Chomutov - Dušan Dufka and Ing. Jan Pohůnek. All these employees have already worked together on several grant projects with a civil engineering and safety focus. They have never dealt with the aesthetic or artistic form of the elements. Thus, negotiations were initiated with artists dedicated to sculpture in the Chomutov region. The sculptor Jitka Kůsová and Jiří Němec agreed to work on the project. Furthermore, Mgr. Ondřej Marek, who has experience in leading projects focused on ecology and education of children. Matěj Peterka, a student of the Academy of Arts and Crafts in Prague, Department of Architecture, was invited to work with modern digital technologies.
The ArtBar group was thus able to cover the following fields with its own members: building mechanics and statics, recycling of building materials especially concrete, sculpture and design of shaped materials, safety requirements in the field of soft target protection, community planning and public communication.
At the beginning, the choice of the visual form of the ArtBar® element was crucial. Religious and national neutrality, positive perception and fulfilling the requirements for safety and mechanical function, i.e. a weight of approx. 1000 kg and resistance to tipping, were preferred. In total, the sculpture team designed about 20 different shapes and sizes.
The design stage was followed by the material design stage. Here it was decided to use as much as possible the leftovers from the production of Strix Chomutov. Instead of crushed natural stone, concrete recyclate from railway sleepers was used for the production of "CAT".
Based on the positive reactions of young children and their parents, the "ArtBar Group" community was able to design and produce a mobile element of urban furniture whose organizational and safety function was hidden by its artistic appearance.
The creation of a community group with a strong regional background and relationship to the city of Chomutov was crucial for the successful evaluation of the project by the public.
The ArtBar® project has shown that in some cases the community system can achieve significant economic optimization of the original grant projects.
The established community ties are so strong that further ArtBar® elements with personification are being prepared for other cities in the Czech Republic.
Beyond the original project, a variant of the element "CAT - garden" was created, which has the same author's elements as the element "CAT", but does not include safety elements for the installation of the PROBAR® catching system. There are currently about 10 interested parties for the purchase of this element.
Concrete was chosen as the base material to meet the aesthetic and mechanical parameters of the ArtBar® element. The classical precast concrete formula was replaced by a formula in which natural crushed aggregate was 100% replaced by concrete recyclate made from railway sleepers. Here, the practical experimental experience of academics with different concrete formulations containing recycled materials was used. The single-serve concrete recyclate made from concrete sleepers used enabled the production of a concrete mix with the same parameters as that of concretes containing natural crushed aggregate.
The creation of a unique functional community consisting of academic staff, security engineers, business owners, renowned artists and students made it possible to realize the development of a new element of urban furniture with organizational security and aesthetic function.
We consider the design and production of a concrete mix containing aggregate produced only by recycling concrete railway sleepers to be innovative.
Overall, the principle of maximum use of recycled and waste materials was used for the designed element "CAT". For the reinforcement of the element, instead of ordinary concrete reinforcement, the remains of high-strength steel mesh for the rehabilitation of rock structures, which come from the production activities of the company STRIX Chomutov, were used.
As a result of the presentation of the manufactured element "CAT" as part of the organization of the 2022 Christmas markets of the city of Chomutov and the realized children's graphic competition, there was an impulse to develop alternatives to the element "CAT" in the form of "CAT - garden".
The main approach to the project was to follow some of the principles of community work. These were mainly about collective cooperation, collective decision-making on key points of the project and working with local resources, both material and social.
Each participant in the "ArtBar Group" project had the same voting weight, regardless of their education and socio-economic ties.
The project showed a possible community path to those projects that were rejected in large national grant projects.
The project proved that even a security element for the protection of soft targets can be perceived positively with the help of an appropriate art form in public space.
For the reinforcement of the elements, the remains of high-strength networks were used in a unique way, which can be recycled as part of the use of steel scrap, but require greater energy inputs than ordinary steel scrap.
The project responds to the global challenge of soft target security. It presents the possibility of implementing covert protection by means of an artistic design with the possible involvement of elements of Genius loci.
The project has shown the way how security elements can also be used to connect with a given city's historical and cultural heritage. This approach can minimize the negative perception of security measures among the local population and, on the contrary, strengthen the personal relationship with the town or village.
