Just in time for Valentine's Day, Almost Studio's new Love & Design commission appears in Times Square

The design features an arrangement of four heart-shaped hedgerow trellises meant to stimulate lovers’ self-discovery and intimate reflection. Chance encounters are also at play inside the interior of the structure, which now constitutes the annual competition’s 15th overall edition. 

Almost Studio’s co-founders Dorian Booth and Anthony V. Gagliard said: “Like a daydream, and just for just a moment — forget your troubles, your stress, your to-do’s, and where you are going. Love’s h|Hedge is meant to be a pause, a momentary illusion, in your day, in your week, and in your life. Planting an artificial garden within Times Square is meant to be a jolt from our routines. It is meant to draw from the history of landscape design, public theater, and Surrealism to take us out of our everyday and instead offer a garden island of wonders, what-ifs, and somedays. It is a place of reflection and reformation. It is a place to look at yourself and others anew.”

Judges for the competition included Studio Fōr principal Fauzia Khanani; Carson Chane of MoMA’s Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and the Natural Environment; Architecture Research Office’s Stephen Cassell, and five others.

The design, which was completed with fabrication help from Arcana, is on view now as part of the broader Love in Times Square program. More information about this year’s festivities can be found here. 

Additional finalist proposals can be found by following this link to the Times Square Arts competition page.