Harvard Graduate School of Design design critic in architecture Jon Lott (MArch ’05) and colleagues at Collective–LOK will be adding an element of intimacy and intrigue to New York’s Times Square this Valentine’s Day.
Over the past eight years, the Times Square Alliance has held an annual Times Square Valentine Heart Design competition, curated by The Center for Architecture. The competition invites architecture and design firms to submit proposals for a “romantic public art installation” in Times Square, hooked to Valentine’s Day.
Collective–LOK was named this year’s winner with Heart of Hearts, which presents a ringed arrangement of nine golden, mirrored, heart-shaped panels, each 10 feet in height. The effect is a kaleidoscopic pavilion that reflects and multiplies surrounding Times Square activity, but that simultaneously offers space for more-personal reflection. Within the ring, diamond-shaped spaces inside each heart form “kissing booths” for visitors.
Lott formed Collective–LOK with William O’Brien Jr. (MArch ’05), an associate professor of architecture at MIT, and Michael Kubo (MArch ’06), a PhD candidate in the history, theory, and criticism of architecture at MIT. Among other achievements, Collective–LOK won the Van Alen Institute’s 2013 international competition to redesign the institute’s headquarters.
“We are thrilled to create the Heart of Hearts for Valentine’s Day, an engagement ring for our love affair with the spectacle of Times Square,” the three said in a statement. “It’s truly a special opportunity to provide a space for intimacy and performance in the heart of the city, one we hope visitors will love.”
Heart of Hearts will be revealed on February 9 and remain on view through March 6 at Father Duffy Square, between 46th and 47th Streets.
To learn more about Heart of Hearts, visit Collective–LOK and Times Square Arts.
Image courtesy Collective–LOK