3D-Printed “Window to the Heart” to Be Constructed in Times Square for Valentine’s Day

 

The collaboration of Aranda\Lasch + Marcelo Coelho has been selected as the winners of this year’s Times Square Valentine Heart Design competition for their 3D-printed proposal, Window to the Heart.

Envisioned as the “world’s largest lens,” the installation was in response to its location within one of the world’s most instagrammed places, Times Square. The 12-foot-diameter Fresnel lens, designed with 3D-printing manufacturer Formlabs and structural engineer Laufs Engineering Design, will capture the image of the square within the heart-shaped window at its center, bending and distorting the surround myriad lights and colors.

“Rather than using the traditional lens-making methods of casting, cutting, and repeatedly polishing glass, Window to the Heart will leverage the latest advances in design, materials, and fabrication to craft something that was previously unattainable,” explains Times Square Arts. “Each lens segment is 3D-printed at a high resolution by Formlabs using clear resin, a material capable of the unique surface quality and clarity required by optical elements. With the lens made entirely from a 3D-printed material instead of glass, Window to the Heart upends the centuries-old methods of lens-making to invite individuals to reimagine how they see and photograph the world.”

Visitors are encouraged to look through the window or photograph themselves within the frame, symbolically “completing the loop between the lens of the eye and the lens of the camera.”

Organized by Times Square Arts and the Design Trust for Public Space, the 2018 Times Square Valentine Heart will be on display from February 1st until the end of the month.

Source: ArchDaily

Image Source: ArchDaily

Filed under: Headlines by Alec Reimon
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