Happy Streets wants to change the street. In order to be able to experience the future city street, they temporarily transform the West-Kruiskade in Rotterdam. More space will be given to cyclists and pedestrians, and places will be made where people can meet each other.

For this transition experiment Jonas Vorwerk and Chantal Vos made the artwork Lichtbos. Lichtbos is an interactive and moveable installation. Ten identical aluminium objects, coated in an agate-gray color, from two by two meters are placed on a north south oriented grid of four by four meters. By raising the objects to the height of a chair, a seating area arises where passers-byers can rest, experience, watch and talk. The square objects give root space for ten real trees. The tree crowns fill up the four by four meter grid in the sky. The forest responds to movement. The installation lights up when you get closer to a tree, walk through the forest or sit under a tree. Sometimes Lichtbos surprises spectators and users with an unexpected visual light play.

The installation interferes with the current urban view of the Tiendplein on the West-Kruiskade due to its bold positioning, size and vivid greening of public space. 17 days long – From 12 to 28 October – the public can experience the Tiendplein in this different way.

With this installation, Jonas Vorwerk and Chantal Vos wants to slow down passers-by, promote stays, stimulate meeting and make public space in the urban environment greener, more useful and smarter.
This temporary physical intervention teaches us the behaviour in this particular place when the conditions thereof change, so that in the future the street can be adjusted accordingly.

Lichtbos gives Rotterdam a mobile public park of 228m2. This moveable and expandable installation will travel through the city in the future with who knows a final destination.