For Nancy Hou and Josh de Sousa, founders of design studio Love the Sousaurban 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 environment in new ways.
Often featuring vibrant colors and glowing lighting effects that can be enjoyed day or night, pieces such as ‘Bubble’ and ‘Star Light Star Bright’ invite passersby to wander through and around undulating surfaces. Many of the company’s ideas revolve around the idea of the pavilion: an inviting outdoor gathering place for the community.
For example, “Star Light Star Bright” was installed on Broadway in New York City earlier this year, “inspired by the cross-cultural tradition of wish trees(invite) visitors to tie ribbons representing their hopes and desires,” Hou and de Sousa said in a statement. When ribbon-like wristbands were added, the pavilion evolved as it donned “a fluffy, fluorescent winter coat,” emphasizing interconnectedness and the universality of hope.
In Manhattan’s Flatiron District, Hou de Sousa also recently installed a piece called “Tulips,” which reimagines lampposts as giant flowers blooming 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 in the studios website And Instagram.
