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Lively seating and signage will brighten up Times Square this summer

It's About Time (Square)

Lively seating and signage will brighten up Times Square this summer

Joe Ducet's The Village. (Joe Doucet/Times Square Alliance)

New York’s Times Square plaza will be transformed by designers Brad Ascalon, Joe Doucet, Louis Lim, DYAD and Hive Public Space this May. Organized by the Times Square Alliance, the designers’ solutions rethink the street furniture of one of the world’s most visible public spaces.

Hive Public Space’s Title Wave. (Hive Public Space/Times Square Alliance)

The collection includes conceptual designs for seating, signage, and book display. Furniture designer Brad Ascalon designs an “island” that incorporates planters, seating and storage. Product designer Joe Doucet envisions colorful pods that organize the interactions of people in the public space. Urban design and placemaking consultancy Hive Public Space combines a bookcase with a bench, echoing the Strand Bookstore nearby. DYAD, led by designer Douglas Fanning, formulates an eye-catching sign holder resembling a kick-boxing stand, and Louis Lim designs a teardrop-shaped, touch-responsive signage system.

Brad Ascalon’s Island Collection of modular seating cubes. (Brad Ascalon/Times Square Alliance)

“Times Square asked great New York City designers to build on permanent transformations such as the red steps and the pedestrian plazas, and temporary transformations through design and public art,” said Tim Tompkins, President of the Times Square Alliance, and the organizer of local events.

Brad Ascalon’s Island Collection planters. (Brad Ascalon/Times Square Alliance)

The pieces will be revealed on the plaza together with the opening of the Design Pavilion during NYCxDesign. They are curated by Times Square Design Lab (TSqDL), which is a collaboration between 6¢ Design, a think tank led by Principal Victoria Milne, and the Times Square Alliance. NYCxDesign is an annual event that celebrates local and worldwide design talents and will take place between May 11 and 23 this year.


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