Design City is constructing a temporary structure out of cargo boxes. It is meant to involve the Kolding community to come together in a space where various activities can be conducted. Design City is located far from the City Center, and there is no definitve path that leads from the established part of Kolding to Design City. We’ve created a way-finding experience using geometric perspective localized paintings. When you are on the correct path, you see images of floating cubes leading to Design City.
Box City
How might we create a navigational experience to reach Design City?
What do the cubes do? By introducing geometric perspective illusion to the cityscape, we give pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers the opportunity to notice something interesting and potentially break from their habitual, everyday paths.
Why does the world need the Box City installation? The world needs socities that are proud to break away from convention and to provide urban models to other cities. By daring to make just a few powerful marks on the city, Kolding too is an active innovator in design techniques.
Where’s the nudge? (A) People follow trails. They recognize patterns too. (B) When people interact with geometric perspective localized paintings, they are amazed. We are harnessing (A) the entertainment value of these cubes, and (B) the power of a trail, to implicitly guide people towards the new development.
How will people behave once the Kolding cubes are up? A majority of people will see the cubes and instinctivly understand that they form a pathway to something interesting. People will follow the pathway. People will find their way to Design City without effort, and a new pathway will be established. The pathways’s reputation will grow as more and more people follow it.
What is the impact of Box City? Design City is still in its planning and construction phase, so we cannot measure the flow of people between the city center and the new development. We can identify targets for the future: Many people follow the cube path to the Design City. The cube path becomes an iconic symbol of Kolding itself and establishes it as a premire design hotspot. Design City is connected to the City Center.