Two immersive, site-specific media art installations evoking natural water landscapes, produced by a'strict, will be displayed at Times Square during New York's hottest summer months. From July 16 to Aug. 2, the group's gigantic whale and waterfall will appear before the eyes of millions in the U.S. for the first time. — The Korea Times

Two historic New York City theaters are getting ready to shine brightly under the Times Square spotlight once again. This week, developers behind the Times Square Theater and the Palace Theater, unveiled ambitious renovation and expansion plans for their establishments. — ny.curbed.com

“We Were Strangers Once Too” by hybrid research group The Office for Creative Research reminds us yet again that immigrants make America great, and that upholding the values of showing love and respect for all is as important as ever...The [public data sculpture serves] as a small yet impactful reminder of the diverse communities that make NYC what it is. — Bustler

The only context in which [Times Square] is routinely praised is a historical one, and then usually in a misguided glorification of its former grittiness. Nostalgia clouds the ugliness of the past and conceals the vibrancy of the present, but perhaps worst of all, it offers a pass for looking at Times Square as it really is and as it should be. [...]

if you’re trying to fight your way through the crowds of Times Square, you’re missing the point—the point is the crowd. — observer.com

Romance is in the air at Times Square. If you were to walk through there right now, you'll find the "Heart of Hearts", a ring of mirrored golden hearts in the middle of all the hustle and bustle. Designed by Collective-LOK, the installation was the 2016 winner of the Times Square Valentine Heart Design competition. — Bustler

Perkins Eastman is taking two of the best-loved urban land-use stories of the Bloomberg era—the High Line and Times Square—and combining them into one.

The Green Line extends the logic of changes that have already taken root along the limited stretch of Broadway running through Times Square. [...] proposal builds on the work of Jan Gehl and Snøhetta, the architects who pedestrianized Times Square. Yet it also echoes the High Line by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. — citylab.com

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has suggested the area around the Tour Montparnasse skyscraper could become the Times Square of the French capital. Now its owners plan to try and make that dream come true. [...]

The owners of the 59-storey building are due to launch an international architecture competition next year to revamp the brown tower block and the shopping mall at its base with a major makeover that could cost up to €700 million. — thelocal.fr

It’s hard to grasp his calculus. One of Mr. de Blasio’s big initiatives, Vision Zero, aims to improve pedestrian safety. Ripping up the pedestrian plazas in Times Square, restoring cars and forcing millions of people to dodge traffic again, runs headlong into his own policy.

As an exasperated Tim Tompkins, the president of the Times Square Alliance, put it on Thursday: “Sure, let’s tear up Broadway — we can’t govern, manage or police our public spaces.” — nytimes.com

Times Square has always been about reinvention — in order for the New York Times' headquarters to be built (and give the spot its name), the Pabst Brewing Company's Pabst Hotel had to be demolished. But in the late 1970s, after decades of grandeur followed by decades of decay, imagining the future of Times Square became a particularly pressing project. [...]

Here are some plans for the future of Times Square, some of which never caught on and some of which still have a chance. — nymag.com

Times Square runs on spectacle. Bigger and brighter is always better. And though plenty of New Yorkers wear their criticism of Times Square as a badge of local honor [...] one of the most iconic public spaces in the world. In recent years, as stretches of Broadway formerly open to vehicular traffic have been repurposed as pedestrian plazas, opportunities to activate the “crossroads of the world” with events, performances, and public art installations have ballooned. — urbanomnibus.net

Here's one for you lovers out there: in the annual Times Square Valentine Heart Design contest, Brooklyn-based, Venezuelan-born firm Stereotank just came out as the winner with their entry "HEARTBEAT."

The interactive installation is scheduled to open for an entire month to couples and singles alike on February 9. — bustler.net

The hardworking Skyscraper Museum, in the belly of a condo complex on Battery Place, doesn’t have much space or much of a budget, but with admirable frequency its director, Carol Willis, stages smart shows that uncover telling moments of New York skyscraper lore and architecture history. The museum has just opened “Times Square, 1984: The Postmodern Moment,” about the battle 30 years ago for the soul of Times Square and the profession. — nytimes.com