Times Square Alliance has teamed up with 6¢ Design to create the Times Square Design Lab. This is to add unique street furniture, book displays, and signage to remake the pedestrian mall at the “crossroads of the world” at the juncture of Broadway and Seventh Avenue. This will turn the area into a brand new public space venue and showcase that will be featured in the NYCxDesign fair that will be on display between May 11 and 23, 2018. The goal is to provide an improved pedestrian experience that attracts 350,000 to 450,000 visitors each day to this mall.

New York’s outstanding design and talented community has developed ingenious creative works of art for the comfort and art appreciation of those who stroll the plaza, which is the city’s number one destination for tourists as well as residents. There are many people who would like to stop and rest on occasion. The innovations embody the city’s creative spirit to be shared with the onlookers and those who take advantage of the seating purpose behind these items.

The commissioned pieces include:

The Five Design Innovations and Their Designers

  • “The Village” by Joe Doucet, a seating concept with colorful large-scale enclosed pods providing a distinguishable landmark.
  • * Brad Ascalon’s “Island Collection,” a multi-purpose modular seating concept incorporating a number of planters as well as storage.
  • DYAD’s poster holder, “Re: Post,” which takes ideas from boxing punching bags and refers to traditional community signage with its eye-catching structure that borrows from the hobby of kickboxing.
  • Hive Public Space’s seating and shelving, “Title Wave,” in the form of a curvilinear bookcase that integrates a bench into the bookcase.
  • Louis Lim’s “Drop Sign,” a teardrop-shaped signage system that attracts attention when it responds to the movement of wind or touch.

Be sure to check out the cool functional and artistic items described above that will enliven and spruce up Times Square during and after the upcoming NYCxDesign fair. Enjoy the Alliance’s diligent efforts to make Times Square serve as a public space design laboratory. Temporary installations in the past have included Juergen Mayer’s “XXX Times Square with Love,” the yearly Valentine’s Heart Competition, Times Square Arts, and others.