For Nancy Hou and Josh de Sousa, founders of design studio Hou de Sousa, urban thoroughfares and public squares are a blank canvas. The award-winning, New York-based team focuses on architectural installations and large-scale sculptures that invite visitors to experience their surroundings in new ways.
Often employing vibrant color and glowing lighting effects to be enjoyed day or night, pieces like “Bubble” and “Star Light Star Bright” invite passersby to wander through and around undulating surfaces. Many of the firm’s ideas revolve around the idea of the pavilion—an inviting outdoor meeting place for the community.
“Star Light Star Bright,” for example, was installed earlier this year on Broadway in New York City, “inspired by the cross-cultural tradition of wish trees, (inviting) visitors to tie ribbons representing their hopes and desires,” Hou and de Sousa say in a statement. As ribbon-like wristbands were added, the pavilion evolved as it donned “a fluffy, fluorescent winter coat,” highlighting interconnectedness and the universality of hope.
In the Flatiron District in Manhattan, Hou de Sousa also recently installed a piece called “Tulips,” which reimagine lamp posts as giant flowers blossoming toward the sky.
If you’re in the Sarasota, Florida, area this winter, keep an eye out for the studio’s next installation, an 8,000-pound steel sculpture titled “Poly.” Dive into more projects on the studio’s website and Instagram.
