Notes of Interest
The new TKTS Booth, including the redevelopment of Father Duffy Square, creates a new center for Times Square, one of the world’s most popular and iconic destinations. The project began in 1999 with a design competition to re-design the popular TKTS booth. While the competition brief simply requested designs for a small scale architectural structure to replace the existing ticket booth, the concept-winning design reframed the problem as one requiring a broader urban design response to invigorate and provide a center for Times Square, and won the competition.
In 2001, the client commissioned a firm to conduct a feasibility study to evaluate the conceptual design scheme. The final design was informed and inspired by the original concept but also used a distinctly 21st Century set of approaches: glass would now be employed as the TKTS Booth’s sole structural component for the steps and the TKTS Booth itself would be free-standing within the glass enclosure. The transformation of the public space of Father Duffy Square by the Plaza architect allows for increased pedestrian traffic and more prominence for Father Duffy’s commanding statue.
Architect
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Perkins Eastman
Choi Ropiha
PKSB Architects
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Owner
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Times Square Alliance
Theatre Development Fund
Coalition for Father Duffy and City of New York
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Location
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New York City
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ADDITIONAL CREDITS
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Consultant
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Dewhurst MacFarlane and Partners
Fisher Marantz Stone
Bresnan Architects, PC
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Engineer
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Dewhurst MacFarlane and Partners
Schaefer Lewis Engineers, PC
DMJM Harris
Haran Glass, with IG Innovation Glass LLP
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Landscape Architect
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Judith Heintz Landscape Architects
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Photo Credit
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© Paúl Rivera
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JURY COMMENTS
With its elegant conception
and realization, its refined
design stands up to the
cacophony of Times Square;
this is as much a 21st
Century art piece as a
building.
The very idea of the
building is playful: a
structure for selling tickets
to shows while also being a
vehicle for watching the
very "theater" of activity in
Times Square. It will be a
catalyst for ongoing
pedestrian enhancements of
the Square.
A simple building,
whimsical in nature… it is
efficient and functional…
sculptural and energetic.
2010 INSTITUTE HONOR AWARDS FOR ARCHITECTURE JURY
Richard L. Maimon, AIA (Chair)
KieranTimberlake
Philadelphia
Jeanne Gang, FAIA
Studio/Gang Architects
Chicago
Sam Grawe
Dwell /At Home in the Modern World Magazines
San Francisco
Jeffrey Lee, FAIA
Pearce Brinkley Cease & Lee P.A.
Raleigh
Justine N. Lewis
AIAS Representative
Atlanta
Miguel A. Rivera Agosto, AIA
Miró Rivera Architects
Austin
Mark Simon, FAIA
Centerbrook Architects & Planners
Centerbrook, Connecticut
H. Ruth Todd, AIA
Page & Turnbull Architects
San Francisco
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