1:35 Betonové zátarasy City blok - dlouhé

A barrier that tries not to look like a barrier

Town buildings place different demands on a closure than a field post does. In front of the entrance to an office or a bank an obstacle must not look like a barricade, and yet it has to stop a moving vehicle. Hence the shape of the squared block with dressed edges, which fits into the paving of a sidewalk as a piece of town furniture. The longer piece is set along the facade, where it is meant to cover the entrance continuously, and in a finished row it is then visible that only as much space is left between the individual parts as a person can pass through.

The package

Eight polyurethane parts. The higher number allows a whole line along one side of a street to be built, not just a hint of one.

Life on the surface

This kind of concrete goes through a different aging than a closure by a road. It collects stickers, boot prints from the corner where people hop over it, and greasy marks where passers-by set down a bag. The corner nearest the entrance tends to be scuffed by the bumpers of parked cars, and it darkens in the rainy strip under the gutter. It is a good idea to choose a lighter, beige-leaning shade of concrete, because town precast units are cast from a finer mix than coarse field blocks.

Everything is worked out for the 1:35 ratio, so the castings stand up beside figures and civilian vehicles alike.

Setting it into the paving

A block never stands on a surface without leaving a trace. A dark joint remains at the foot, the cobbles around it tend to be set on end, and the surroundings get damaged while it is being installed, so they are patched with asphalt. It is precisely these small things that turn a casting laid on a board into a piece that really stands in a street.