Amsterdam Design powerhouse Droog Design and Curator Scott Burnham assembled a team of designers and architects from around the world to create 13 original design interventions, tools, toys, and objects that were temporarily placed along a route on the central IJ-riverfront in Amsterdam.

The IJ riverfront was an area of Amsterdam that was undergoing rapid change from an industrial waterfront with very little public access to a new mixed-use residential district. Part of the intent of the exhibition was to create an invitation for the people of Amsterdam to experience the waterfront and this formerly off-limits part of the city in a new way. Another intent was to challenge the rules of engagement between citizens and urban creative expression, using a combination of formal and informal, sanctioned and guerilla interventions projects. The vast range of work represented the intersection of the latest genre of street art and the beginnings of open source urban design.

Rebar’s contribution to the exhibition was Bushwaffle – modular inflatable street furniture that softens the hard, angular urban environment and provides opportunities for informal social interaction and collaborative architectural improvisation.

Bushwaffle was an early experiment in user-generated urbanism. The concept was to provide an instrument or a strategic frame - in this case a modular inflatable outdoor furniture piece - to enable citizens to shape their environment according to their own needs and desires.