Rest assured: LOT’s Flatiron installation encourages New Yorkers to relax

LOT’s installation ‘Flatiron Sky-Line’ has won the annual Flatiron Public Plaza Holiday Design Competition to be installed in New York during the holiday season. LOT’s first large-scale public installation in New York City will be an arched design which welcomes in passersby to relax in hammocks, look up and enjoy some of New York’s early 20th century skyscrapers including the Flatiron building, the Woolwich building and Met Life Tower.
Running for the third time, the competition hosted by The Flatiron Partnership and the Van Alen Institute invites a temporary installation to the Flatiron district to serve as a hub for a programme of public events over the winter months. A jury of design and public art professionals selected LOT’s proposal from five competition entries, including New York studios Architensions; Büro Koray Duman Architects; Freeland Buck; and Young & Ayata.
Led by the principles of simplicity and an interest in the Flatiron skyline, LOT, directed by Eleni Petaloti and Leonidas Trampoukis, designed the installation to change people’s viewpoint of the city. The bright arches of the structure are made from white powder-coated steel tubes illuminated with LED lights, which hold hammocks underneath their eaves. The social sculpture encourages New Yorkers to recharge and engage with the eminent architecture of the Flatiron district.
Located at the North Flatiron Public Plaza at Broadway, Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street, ‘Flatiron Sky-Line’ will be installed from 21 November, breaking the busy pace of the streets for the holiday season.
Located at the North Flatiron Public Plaza, LOT's winning proposal will be installed from 21 November
Visitors will be able look up and enjoy some of the city's early 20th century skyscrapers
LOT pipped four other New York studios to scoop the commission, including Freeland Buck, which submitted this 'Vanishing Point' entry
'Radiant Forest', by Architensions, was another potential proposal for the public plaza
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the LOT website
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Harriet Thorpe is a writer, journalist and editor covering architecture, design and culture, with particular interest in sustainability, 20th-century architecture and community. After studying History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Journalism at City University in London, she developed her interest in architecture working at Wallpaper* magazine and today contributes to Wallpaper*, The World of Interiors and Icon magazine, amongst other titles. She is author of The Sustainable City (2022, Hoxton Mini Press), a book about sustainable architecture in London, and the Modern Cambridge Map (2023, Blue Crow Media), a map of 20th-century architecture in Cambridge, the city where she grew up.
-
Herzog & de Meuron and Piet Oudolf unveil Calder Gardens in Philadelphia
The new cultural landmark presents Alexander Calder’s work in dialogue with nature and architecture, alongside the release of Jacques Herzog’s 'Sketches & Notes'. Ellie Stathaki interviews Herzog about the project.
-
Beloved British screenwriter Dennis Potter inspires an exhibition with a difference at Studio Voltaire
Hilary Lloyd's multi-faceted exhibition at Studio Voltaire considers Dennis Potter's life and work, from much-loved TV classics to power inequalities
-
Insert here: London Design Festival gets intimate with insertable design
At London Design Festival, Heirloom Studio showcases 36 objects – some life-saving, some pleasure-giving, all made to go inside the body
-
Herzog & de Meuron and Piet Oudolf unveil Calder Gardens in Philadelphia
The new cultural landmark presents Alexander Calder’s work in dialogue with nature and architecture, alongside the release of Jacques Herzog’s 'Sketches & Notes'. Ellie Stathaki interviews Herzog about the project.
-
Slides, clouds and a box of presents: it’s the Dulwich Picture Gallery’s quirky new pavilion
At the Dulwich Picture Gallery in south London, ArtPlay Pavilion by Carmody Groarke and a rich Sculpture Garden open, fusing culture and fun for young audiences
-
Meet Studio Zewde, the Harlem practice that's creating landscapes 'rooted in cultural narratives, ecology and memory'
Ahead of a string of prestigious project openings, we check in with firm founder Sara Zewde
-
The best of California desert architecture, from midcentury gems to mirrored dwellings
While architecture has long employed strategies to cool buildings in arid environments, California desert architecture developed its own distinct identity –giving rise, notably, to a wave of iconic midcentury designs
-
A restored Eichler home is a peerless piece of West Coast midcentury modernism
We explore an Eichler home, and Californian developer Joseph Eichler’s legacy of design, as a fine example of his progressive house-building programme hits the market
-
We'd happily move into this super-stylish New York architecture office
Michael K Chen’s newly expanded Midtown workspace is a calling card for his intuitive style and inclusive approach
-
How LA's Terremoto brings 'historic architecture into its next era through revitalising the landscapes around them'
Terremoto, the Los Angeles and San Francisco collective landscape architecture studio, shakes up the industry through openness and design passion
-
Inside the Waldorf Astoria's dazzling restoration, from cigar smoke to snowy owls
How a team of architects from SOM and a group of art conservators brought New York's grand dame back to her original Art Deco splendor