AN ICON AMONG ICONS

It is rare that a winning concept for an architectural competition is realized. Rarer still that the integrity of that winning concept remains in its design and realization.

The transformation of Father Duffy Square and the new TKTS booth is exceptional. The winning concept for the TKTS booth, submitted by the Australian firm Choi Ropiha and selected by the Van Alen Institute from nearly 700 entries, has been designed by Perkins Eastman and integrated with William Fellows’ new design for the plaza. Together these new elements have transformed the heart of the Times Square district while raising the bar for public space design in New York City.

Photo: Emile Wamsteker

Conceived as a great public space at the Crossroads of the World, the design provides the best seats in the house to watch the greatest show on earth – Times Square.

Booth and steps designed by Perkins Eastman based on a concept by Choi Ropiha; plaza designed by William Fellows.

Photo: Emile Wamsteker

Like their surroundings, the TKTS ticket booth and the new Times Square steps are visually dramatic and architecturally spectacular, landmarks of incisive visual clarity. The design unites the plaza, amphitheatre-like steps, and booth to provide a much-needed refuge from the surrounding visual cacophony. The amphitheatre is built entirely from glass, placing it at the forefront of glass technology. Red glass steps supported on glass stringers and spanning between glass load-bearing walls are illuminated from within by red LEDs. The overall effect is dramatic – a shimmering, floating carpet of color and light. The TKTS booth itself is a free-standing, custom-fabricated fiberglass shell that sits beneath the steps, visible through the glass side walls of the structure.

<< Previous: TKTS                             Next: An Icon Among Icons, Part 2 >>

<< Home