“I knew I wanted to create something that would be intimately related to the park itself, the trees, and the state of the earth,” explains the American designer and sculptor Maya Lin. “I have been drawn to the natural world to reveal things that help make you aware of your own surroundings.” Lin has erected a forest of Atlantic cedars in New York City’s Madison Square Park, six acres in the Flatiron District that see 60,000 visitors a day. Sourced from New Jersey’s precious Pine Barrens, a vast ecosystem, the trees are intentionally bare, skeletal, which in the midst of a bustling city makes a dramatic statement. Says Lin, “I want you to feel the totemic character of each of these dead trees in contrast to the living park that surrounds it.” —E.C.