The Next Big Thing
In June 2022, the West Palm Beach Downtown Development Authority, with support from the West Palm Beach Arts & Entertainment District launched an international call in search of “The Next Big Thing” — a quest to bring a unique and imaginative outdoor experience to the heart of the city of West Palm Beach.
Their vision was to bring a creative charge to the community of West Palm Beach, such that will have a long-lasting echo into the future of the metropolis, and introduce the concept of placemaking as an important strategy for the future of city planning.
From over 20 international submissions, a community-wide project called ”Trojan Rocking Horse” by Finnish architecture company Casagrande Laboratory was chosen.
Let everything that has been planned come true
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Let everything that has been planned come true ●
Let everything that has been planned come true
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Let everything that has been planned come true ●
Let everything that has been planned come true
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Let everything that has been planned come true ●
Trojan Rocking Horse
Trojan Rocking Horse is a mobile letterbox designed to collect messages from the citizens containing their dreams and visions for the future of the city. Horses are marching through the city, collecting letters to deliver to the city authorities.
Casagrande Laboratory developed this multi-faceted project with the ambition to address the disjunction between nature, including human nature, and the living environment that the modern city provides.
A hybrid between an art piece, performance, research tool, and intervention, Trojan Rocking Horse is essentially a straight interface between the citizens and urban planning.
“Good architecture is the interaction between form and life.”
― Jan Gehl
Participatory planning
For the community, with the community
The power of the Trojan Rocking Horse project is that it involves the community on multiple levels and aims to engage with citizens of all ages and backgrounds.
A big role will be given to the local children who will help design the 8 Trojan Rocking Horse sculptures during art workshops led by Finnish architect and professor Marco Casagrande. Following the workshops, the designs will be presented to metalworking sculptors who will materialize them from locally sourced materials, with supervision from the little designers.
Once the sculptures leave the workshop, they will go out to meet the public. We invite all citizens to reflect on their living environment and write down their comments, dreams, and ambitions for the future of their city.
Trojan Rocking Horses will be marching through the streets of West Palm Beach, collecting messages, down 8 predetermined routes, for 5 days so every citizen will have the opportunity to participate in the project and contribute with their local knowledge and wisdom.
In the Final ceremony, Trojan Rocking Horses will make the final leg of their journey and deliver the letters to the city government.
THE NEXT BIG THING
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THE NEXT BIG THING •
Think big, start small
The Trojan Rocking Horse project does not end with the Final ceremony. Collected messages will be analyzed and this information will be distilled into building blocks for further action.
Using the method of urban acupuncture we are able to start from small-scale, focused interventions that will create a ripple-effect and initiate transformation on large scale within the urban organism.
Trojan Rocking Horse is not a passive work of art. It is a catalyst for discovery and transformation - establishing new forms of city-making where citizens are active participants in the definition and construction of their living environment.
