After a ten-day design competition inspired by the recent legalization of same-sex marriage in New York (and the subsequent influx of marriage license applications), over fifty designers submitted ideas for so-called “pop-up” wedding chapels to be erected in the state’s cultural capitol.
According to CNN, officials selected two chapels – KISS and ICRAVE – from among the myriad design ideas in order to help serve the many hundreds of same-sex couples determined to wed last weekend.
Built in Central Park, close (but not too close) to the hub of the city’s Columbus Circle, the chapels provided an eclectic outlet for those in need of a festive yet efficient place to tie the knot. KISS, conceptualized by architect Guy Zucker, was built through the interlocked connection of two helix-shaped wood frames – a design that The Knot co-founder and contest sponsor Carley Roney described as representing couples’ need to lean on one another “to stand up” through life.
In contrast, architect Lionel Ohayon’s ICRAVE chapel featured rainbow-tinted ribbon, draped from roof beams and designed to surround each couple as they exchanged vows.
Both chapels were disassembled after the inaugural weekend for same-sex marriage in New York; but according to the those who exchanged vows beneath these ephemeral structures, the unions sealed in KISS and ICRAVE were made to last.
