Three different projects here in NYC have recently come to my attention, so rather than do three separate posts, I’ve decided to group them together in one. You can click on most of the images to see them larger.

First up, The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 have announced this year’s winner of the Young Architects Program. HWKN (HollwichKushner) will construct their entry for the annual outdoor summer installation in PS1’s courtyard in Queens this summer. The winning proposal, titled Wendy, will consist of a large scaffold containing an oversized blue nylon starburst-like structure that will clean the air while offering shade, wind, rain and music. Looks like quite a departure from the past couple of years in that it looks more self-contained. I’m really looking forward to seeing it built in June.

Images courtesy HWKN
via archdaily

Next, right now through February 29, 2012, there’s a 10-foot-tall BIG ❤ NYC sculpture/light installation in Times Square designed by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) Architects in honor of Valentine’s Day. The public art installation is located in Duffy Square at the foot of the TKTS steps/seats. Consisting of 400 transparent acrylic tubes (lit by LEDs) that form a cube around a suspended red heart whose beat and color intensity directly correlate to how many people touch the “Touch Me” heart pad on a circular stand close by.

Flatcut fabricated the rods, Silman Associates were the structural engineers and Zumtobel provided LED technology.

You might also want to check out BIG’s winning entry for Wave Pier in St. Petersburg which looks spectacular!

Photos courtesy Times Square Alliance

Lastly, this Greenwich Village townhouse has had us puzzled for the past couple of months on our daily walks past it. In the storefront of what used to be a hair salon now sit two mirrored benches; one a swing the other static. I imagined some sort of new age church or meeting house with funky pews, or some sort of cool, minimalist art gallery, but a few weeks ago I finally had the opportunity to ask a neighbor as she entered her building if she knew what the mirrored benches were all about. Turns out that it’s a private home and the mirrored room (floor, ceiling, walls as well as bench/swing) are all part of the playroom/guest room. This is not your childhood playroom. I’ve been sort of stalking the place (not really, but I do pass by often on my way to and from home) and was able to catch a glimpse of the open guest room, (with its orange mattresses), as well as the super-cool multicolor striped stairs that lead up to the rest of the house. The architects behind the project are Solomonoff Architecture Studio and professional photos of the entire project are due out in an undisclosed architecture periodical shortly, which should look a lot better than these (the reflective space is especially difficult to photograph.) I’m curious to see what the rest of the house looks like…

Photos: collabcubed