“The difficulty begins with the shape of Times Square—it’s narrow and lies in a slight dip in the land, increasing the feeling of crowdedness even when the space isn’t that crowded. Intuition might tell you that, to alleviate that sensation, a designer should open up the area as much as possible. Dykers explains that Snøhaetta’s approach is the opposite; the firm’s designers have found that the creation of well-placed obstacles is the key to unlocking the potential of a space, to giving people—whether they be front-of-the bull or back-of-the-bull people—the freedom to follow their instincts and shape the space for themselves.”