An installation dedicated to love and diversity is open to the public in Times Square through the end of February. Titled Heart Squared and created by MODU Architecture and Eric Forman Studio, the artwork is a cloud of steel and mirrors that interacts with viewers. It is this year’s winner of New York City’s annual Times Square Valentine Heart Design Competition. Alumnus Tom Sterling (B.Arch ‘16), Architectural Designer at MODU Architecture, is a member of the project team that developed the installation.
Heart Squared is in Father Duffy Square on 7th Avenue between 46th and 47th Streets, and will remain on view through the month of February.
Heart Squared is shaped as an abstracted anatomical heart formed from a cubic steel lattice. It is made of thin steel rods and 98% air, encouraging the public to surround it and experience its infinite grid from all sides. Suspended within the open lattice, and tilted in various directions, over 120 mirrors reflect an interwoven grid of the urban landscape of people, buildings, and billboards.
The heart shape is revealed when viewers find a “sweet spot” from which a giant pixellated heart appears surrounded by a field of reflected sky. Even in one of the densest urban spaces in the world, day or night, it is possible to connect to nature. Heart Squared is always changing with its surrounding environment as it reflects anyone and everyone who engages with it.
“Heart Squared represents the collective heart of the city and as such, is an engaging civic statement about celebrating our differences and bringing people together in a fundamentally inclusive way,” says project team member Rachely Rotem. The team also includes Phu Hoang, Jiri Vala, Ilse De Sutter, Tom Sterling, and Brenda Lim.