Winning sculpture of 2014 Times Square Heart Design unveiled

How about we start the week with a heart-warming project right on time for Valentine's Day! "Match Maker ", the winning sculpture of the 2014 Times Square Valentine Heart Design competition, was unveiled in New York's Times Square today.

Designed by Brooklyn-based Young Projects in collaboration with Kammetal, "Match Maker" is an interactive heart-shaped sculpture that matches individuals based on their zodiac sign.

If you're nearby, "Match Maker" is installed at Father Duffy Square between 46th and 47th Streets in New York City until March 11, 2014.

Competition finalists included Haiko Cornelissen Architecten; Pernilla Ohrstedt Studio; Schaum/Shieh Architects; SOFTlab; and The Living.

Check out the projects below.

Project description:

"The Match-Maker cosmically connects people this Valentine’s Day. Guided by their zodiac sign, visitors arrange themselves at twelve points around the heart-shaped sculpture. Peering through colorful, interwoven periscopes provides glimpses of each viewer’s four most ideal astrological mates, offering potential novel connections between lonely souls or settled lovers."

"The form of the sculpture is elusive, complex, symmetrical, and changes as viewers experience it from different vantage points throughout Times Square.  From many points of view it forms a perfect and iconic heart, from other perspectives it is tangled and perplexing.

"The Match-Maker is the result of collaboration with fabricator Kammetal, Trojan Powder Coating, contractor Taocon, graphic designer Dungjai, lighting designers Lighting Workshop, and structural engineers Robert Silman Associates."

 

Haiko Cornelissen Architecten - TWEET HEART NY

Pernilla Ohrstedt Studio - O Heart

Schaum/Shieh Architects - My Fuzzy Valentine

SOFTlab - Sweet Heart

The Living - Vapor Valentine

In case you missed it, The Living also recently won the 2014 Young Architects Program at MoMA PS1 and was a winner for Emerging Voices 2014.

Previous winners who had their Valentine Heart sculptures installed include: Situ Studio (2013); BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) (2012); Freecell (2011); Moorhead & Moorhead (2010); and Gage/Clemenceau Architects (2009).

Click here for Bustler articles on previous winners.