Holiday Installation in front of the Flatiron Building
The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, is a triangular 22-story, 285-foot (87 m) tall steel-framed landmarked building located at 175 Fifth Avenue in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, which is considered to be a groundbreaking skyscraper. Upon completion in 1902, it was one of the tallest buildings in the city at 20 floors high and one of only two skyscrapers north of 14th Street– the other being the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, one block east. The building sits on a triangular block formed by Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and East 22nd Street – where the building's 87-foot (27 m) back end is located – with Street grazing the triangle's northern (uptown) peak. As with numerous other wedge-shaped buildings, the name "Flatiron" derives from its resemblance to a cast-iron clothes iron.
The building, which has been called "one of the world's most iconic skyscrapers and a quintessential symbol of New York City", anchors the south (downtown) end of Madison Square and the north (uptown) end of the Ladies' Mile Historic District. The neighborhood around it is called the Flatiron District after its signature building, which has become an icon of New York City.
The Flatiron Building was designated a New York City landmark in 1966, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.
New Yorkers in search of respite from the hustle and bustle of the city will soon get a chance to lay back and take a load off in the middle of the Flatiron District. It all comes courtesy of lot Architects, winner of this year’s Flatiron Public Plaza design competition. Chosen from five proposals submitted by as many firms, lot’s plan—called Flatiron Sky-Line—consists of a series of 10 large arches strung with hammocks in the plaza at the base of the Flatiron Building. Set continuously to form an enclosure, the arches are made of metal tubing, and light up after dark thanks to embedded led bulbs. Day or night, you'll be able put your feet up and gaze at the high-rise surroundings. The Flatiron Building plaza has hosted a number of outdoor art projects in the past, but none have seemed quite so relaxing
Over the past four years, the Flatiron Partnership has held an annual competition for an outdoor art commission to take up the plaza in front of the famed Flatiron building during the holidays. For its fifth year, the Flatiron Public Plaza Holiday Design Competition, as it's called, has selected an installation titled Happy designed by Studio Cadena.
The installation comprises a space enclosed by 24 transparent yellow vinyl panels hung like curtains around a metal, open-frame structure whose shape echoes the triangular footprint of the Flatiron Building. According to the organizers of the competition, which also includes the Van Alen Institute, Happy will spread holiday cheer by "gently swaying in the breeze…while it casts long colored shadows in the low light of late fall and early winter…a simple device to make you stop, wonder, and most importantly, smile."