The New York Times Building
In June 2000, The New York Times Company commissioned a new editorial building to replace its 1904 headquarters. Renzo Piano Building Workshop's design, a 52-story tower at a revitalized corner of Manhattan, symbolizes the connection between the newspaper and the city. The eco-friendly, efficient structure integrates advanced technologies, creating a modern, sustainable workplace for a 21st-century media organization, while gracefully blending in with its urban surroundings.
Design Focused on Light, Space, and Employee Well-Being
The building’s design is simple and reflects the Manhattan street grid. Occupying nearly half a block between West 40th and 41st streets, the slender, cruciform tower rises from 8th Avenue. The lower portion of the building, a four-story podium, steps out behind the tower and surrounds a courtyard garden. This section houses the newspaper’s newsroom, known as “the Bakery,” where journalists work overnight to prepare the next day’s paper.
Renzo Piano Building Workshop’s cruciform design, though resulting in less floor area than conventional methods, enhances the quality of the space by maximizing natural light and doubling the number of corner offices on each floor. The focus on the experience, comfort, and well-being of the building’s occupants was central to the design, ensuring a high standard of workspaces that offer lasting value.
Transparency and Public Access Celebrating Openness and Connection
The building is designed to reflect the newspaper's culture of openness, with an emphasis on transparency and permeability. Unlike typical commercial New York City towers, the ground-floor lobby is not a private space solely for access to the offices above. Instead, it offers open access as a public shortcut between 40th and 41st streets, inviting anyone to pass through. This openness extends to the experience within, with views from the lobby into the building’s interior spaces.
Upon crossing the lobby, visitors can see through to a serene open-air courtyard garden, surrounded by birch trees and grasses. This garden serves as a backdrop to a 378-seat auditorium, where it’s possible to sit inside and view the street outside through the building. Several stores and a restaurant also offer views of the garden. The lobby features the art installation "Moveable Type" by Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen, where 560 digital displays present constantly changing content from the newspaper, further connecting the building’s design with its journalistic purpose.
Dynamic Double Facade for Light Control, Energy Efficiency, and Visual Impact
The building features a distinctive double facade, consisting of an outer layer of 175,000 off-white ceramic rods arranged horizontally and supported on a thin steel frame. These rods not only shift in color with changing city light and weather conditions, but also serve as an energy-efficient sunscreen, blocking up to 50% of the sun’s rays. This allows the inner facade, made of highly transparent glass, to flood the interior with natural light, enhancing views in and out of the building and continuing the theme of transparency.
The use of transparent glass enables the building to adapt to its surroundings, with the ceramic rods acting as a parasol to shield against direct sunlight. This innovative second skin reflects the sky’s colors and is the first of its kind built in the United States. By harnessing half of the solar energy, the design maximizes natural light while minimizing heat gain. The facade extends vertically 27 meters beyond the building’s top, with the rods spaced more widely, creating a fading effect as the facade rises. The building is crowned with a 79-meter mast, completing its striking, modern design.
Details on Foundation website
Project Details
Status
Client
The New York Times / Forest City Ratner Companies
Design
Renzo Piano Building Workshopin collaboration with FXFowle Architects, P.C. (New York), architects
Design Team
Competition: B.Plattner (partner in charge), E.Volz with G.Bianchi, J.Moolhuijzen (partners), S.Ishida, P.Vincent (partners), A.Eris, J.Knaak, T.Mikdashi, M.Pimmel, M.Prini, A.Symietz
Design Development: B.Plattner (partner in charge), E.Volz (associate in charge) with J.Carter, S.Drouin, B.Lenz, B.Nichol, R.Salceda, M.Seibold, J.Wagner and C.Orsega, J.Stanteford, R.Stubbs, G.Tran, J.Zambrano; O.Aubert, C.Colson, Y.Kyrkos (models)
Consultants
Competition: Ove Arup & Partners (structure and services)
Project: Thornton Tomasetti (structure); Flack & Kurtz (services); Jenkins & Huntington (vertical transportation); Heitman & Associates (façade consultant); Ludwig & Weiler (storefront); Office for Visual Interaction (lighting); Gensler Associates (interiors); H.M.White (landscape); AMEC (construction manager)
