Orange Phone Booths

Dancing Forest is a public-space installation designed for the entrance of Chongqing Zekebang Xingzehui, a mixed-use development in China. It follows the design line of other Zekebang public-space projects by 100architects, in which trees are the main protagonists of the streetscape. This particular tree-lined public space sits directly beside a busy crosswalk at street level, and the client wanted an eye-catching intervention that would slow people down and activate the otherwise passive street. The proposal takes the existing trees and adds kinetic elements around their trunks: rings of vertical aluminium louvers that rotate slightly in the breeze, creating the illusion that the trees themselves are dancing. The louver rings contain LED strips at the bottom whose light is projected onto the pavement, and hidden inside at the top is uplighting that illuminates the surrounding greenery after dark. The intervention is fully modular and can be replicated at other entrances within the complex, giving the whole development a consistent but lightly applied identity. Dancing Forest enhances the existing greenery with minimal means, transforming a passive street edge into a lively arrival moment that invites pedestrians to pause and engage with the landscape. The rotating louvers also provide a subtle wind-responsive quality that changes through the day.