Times Square Arts Announces Habitat Workshop’s Bloom as Winner of Love in Times Square

Daytime rendering of *Bloom*. *Rendering courtesy of Habitat Workshop*

Nighttime rendering of *Bloom*. *Rendering courtesy of Habitat Workshop*

*Rendering courtesy of Habitat Workshop*

Times Square Arts has announced the winner of their 14th annual Love in Times Square Design Competition, an installation titled Bloom by architecture and urban design studio Habitat Workshop headed by architect Jieun Yang. Fabricated by NYC event production company IDEKO, Bloom is a dynamic sculpture composed of interlocked red and white PVC-piping which forms a vaulted canopy. From below, looking up through the vertically-arranged pipe segments, the structure offers a pixelated view of the lights of Times Square. Visitors are encouraged to move within and around the piece, which “recognizes human fragility and strength,” explains Yang in a statement. “Bloom is an offering of hope and a reminder that we must find vivacity amid the darkness.”

Nighttime rendering of Bloom. Rendering courtesy of Habitat Workshop

The award-winning Brooklyn-based collaborative, Habitat Workshop, focuses on cross-disciplinary design initiatives “as a framework for positive changes in our communities,” according to their studio statement. Their 2020 award-winning Lake Street Corridor project was proposed as a pilot site in Newburgh, New York, Lake Street Corridor is a series of “what-if” proposals for a public space that advocates for public infrastructure and inclusive development, creates safe-access for pedestrians, and promotes equitable access to green space. Yang and his team have completed a number of other major installations in New York City as well as Washington, D.C. and New Orleans.

Daytime rendering of Bloom. Rendering courtesy of Habitat Workshop

The experience of Habitat’s Bloom installation will shift as the light and sounds of Times Square intensify or fade during the day or night, casting heart-shaped shadows of different hues on people passing beneath. “The centers of each heart cluster create the supportive cores that hold the project aloft,” wrote Time Square Arts in a statement, “The strength of the project’s structure comes from each small piece acting as a vital connector, revealing how important grounding forces and networks are for us to find lightness.” The interactive work will be the centerpiece of the annual Valentine’s Day celebration hosted in partnership with The Museum of Arts and Design, which features weddings, surprise proposals, and a vow renewal ceremony.

Bloom will be open to the public from February 9 to March 9, 2022.

Pansy Schulman, Assistant Editor for Architectural Record, graduated from Bard College in 2019 with a degree in urban studies and has previously interned at New York Magazine and the Wall Street Journal.