Home / Art

Times Square’s BIG Beating Heart


Find romance in the big city by taking your sweetheart to see this giant red heart installation in New York City's Times Square. Danish architecture firm BIG (Bjarke Ingles Group), with Flatcut and Local Projects, designed this interactive cube-shaped pulsating heart that burns brightly alongside the intense lights of New York's bustling city center.

Titled BIG?NYC, the installation was created “out of the very materials that constitute Times Square: movement, lights, the masses.” The partially sandblasted acrylic tubes are set up in 10'x10'x10′ formation and illuminated by LED lights that shine up from the base. The light emanates through the translucent areas of the tubes, creating an intense heart-shaped glow. “The elasticity of the tubes makes them wiggle in the wind causing the heart to pulsate along with the life of the city. More people = more love. As more people gather in the square their footsteps are collected as energy and converted into light. The huddled crowd makes the heart burn brighter.”

This is the fourth edition of the “heart sculpture” project hosted by the Times Square Alliance. Alongside BIG's installation design, the structural engineering is executed by Robert Silman Associates and illuminated by Zumbtobel Lighting.


BIG website
Times Square Alliance
Flatcut, Local Projects, Robert Silman Associates, Zumbtobel Lighting

via [Designboom]

Become a
My Modern Met Member
As a member, you'll join us in our effort to support the arts.
Become a Member
Explore member benefits

Sponsored Content