“Choreographing the Chaos: Times Square’s Evolution Since 2000,” was a conversation on the dramatic changes in Times Square over the past decade (and in the near future) between the thought-leaders responsible and our Design Trust Council.

Featured Panelists

Victoria Bailey,Theater Development Fund
Ms. Bailey is the Executive Director of the Theater Development Fund (TDF), the largest non-profit service organization for the performing arts in the US. TDF advances live theatre and dance by building audiences for the theatre and increasing knowledge about theatre and dance. One of Ms. Bailey’s most visible accomplishments has been the shepherding, along with the Times Square Alliance and the Coalition for Father Duffy, the rehabilitation of Duffy Square, now enhanced by the new glowing red steps of the TKTS booth.

Craig Dykers, AIA, Snøhetta
Mr. Dykers co-founded Snøhetta AS in Oslo, Norway in 1989, and Snøhetta Inc. in New York City in 2004. He has served as co-designer of many prominent projects, including the current redesign of Times Square in New York City. Slated for completion in 2014, theNew York Timeswrote that Dykers’ design “would transform the square’s raw, concrete pedestrian plazas into sleek silver-gray spaces populated by slablike benches and metallic tiles,” continuing that the Plan “calls for both a futuristic, streamlined look and a noirish quality that evokes the square’s colorful and occasionally illicit past."

Claire Fellman, Snøhetta
Ms. Fellman is Snøhetta’s Times Square Reconstruction Project Manager. She joined the firm in 2008 as both a LEED AP architect and landscape architect. Speaking on the Plan’s incorporation of electrical outlets in the new, granite sculptural benches to Architects Newspaper last spring, Ms. Fellman noted that “the basic goals of consolidation and simplification that have been key for the project as a whole.”

Tim Tompkins, Times Square Alliance
Mr. Tompkins has been the President of the Times Square Alliance since 2002. The Alliance is a business improvement district that works to improve and promote Times Square – cultivating the creativity, energy and edge that have made the area an icon of entertainment, culture and urban life for over a century. Speaking to theNew York Times on the Project in 2011, Mr. Tompkins noted that ““Right now, we have a dumpy-looking plaza,…” commenting that the Snøhetta Plan “really tries to complement, rather than compete with Times Square.”

Claire Weisz, FAIA,WXY Architecture + Urban Design
Ms. Weisz founded WXY, a firm focused on creating innovative approaches to public space, structures and cities.  As part of the Design Trust’s 2003 publication Problems and Possibilities: Re-Imagining the Pedestrian Environment in Times Square, Ms. Weisz led a design charrette that influenced the current Plan for the public space. WXY is part of Snøhetta’s Times Square project team. Additionally, Ms. Weisz’ firm lead the interior renovation of the Times Square Visitors Center, which utilizes a curved reflective glass serpentine kiosk to accommodate the 2007 New Year’s Eve ball and two counters for ticket sales, while reflecting the landmarked interior of the old Embassy Theater.

Andy Wiley-Schwartz, New York City Department of Transportation
Mr. Wiley-Schwartz is an Assistant Commissioner for Public Space  at the New York City Department of Transportation.  Andy was hired by Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn in 2007 to develop a public space program at DOT.  In this capacity he developed and launched the NYC Plaza Program, an initiative of Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC2030 to develop new public spaces out of existing streets in communities across New York City.  That program is currently managing the design or overseeing the construction or management of over 50 new plazas across the city, comprising over 21 acres of new public space, including the complete reconstruction of Times Square.  Andy has been involved in every aspect of the redesign of Times Square, including the transition of Broadway from roadway to pedestrian plaza, negotiation and oversight of the management  agreement for the existing plaza space, and the scope, team selection and design management of the capital reconstruction project.