Let’s Protect the Schools

Since 2020, the Municipality of Barcelona has set the project, Protegim les escoles (Protecting schools), as a high priority strategy to provide Barcelona’s schools with safe, comfortable, and healthy public spaces that act as meeting places for children, their families and neighbours. By 2030, it is intended that all 585 schools in Barcelona will offer safe and comfortable surroundings. Within this context, FURNISH emerges as an opportunity to help with this pacification, but also to go further.

FURNISH generated a series of Mobile Urban Elements (MUE) designed to be temporarily installed in two public spaces within a collaborative process. From September 2021 to December 2021, a series of activities were successfully implemented in the city of Barcelona with the support of its municipality installing two FURNISH prototypes at the entrances to two state schools.

The first MUE was placed in Entença school in the district of Eixample. This school has 20 teachers and 275 pupils, of which 150 are from 3 to 6 years old, and 125 from 6 to 9. This school is located next to a main street, which suffers from several issues including noise and air pollution, and vehicles driving at high speed making it unsafe. The project at Entença school adapted the entrance to the school to integrate the outer walls of the old Modelo Prison and installed safe, wooden elements in front of the school.