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Piano unveils design for NY Times Company HQ

Staff -- Interior Design, 1/8/2002 9:24:00 AM

Architect Renzo Piano unveiled his innovative architectural plan last month for the new 52-story New York Times Headquarters Building.

Planned for the Times Square district of Manhattan, the building will be Piano's first major project in New York City. Collaborating with Piano on the design is Bruce Fowle, a principle of the New York City firm of Fox & Fowle Architects.

The Italian-born Piano called his plans 'an expression of love for this city and the values it represents.

The building will occupy the entire blockfront on the east side of Eighth Avenue between 40th and 41st Street, anchoring the southwest corner of the Times Square area, and occupying roughly 1.54 million gross square feet of space. Retail space and a garden will be incorporated into the ground floor with offices going up to the 50th floor. The top two floors will be reserved for mechanical space and a rooftop conference facility.

Construction on the building is scheduled to begin in early 2003 with a tentative completion date of 2006.

Both the New York Times and Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC)/ING Group will each occupy the building. Both companies also collaborated on the building as a joint venture. The New York Times will own and occupy approximately 800,000 gross square feet of space on floors 2 through 28. FCRC will own approximately 600,000 gross square feet which will include office space on floors 29 through 50, which it will lease, and approximately 20,000 square feet of ground floor retail space.

'This building is designed from the ground up to reinforce the values of The New York Times Company,' said Michael Golden, vice chairman of the Times Company, which plans on bringing most of the employees from its seven office together in the new location. 'The open plan and ease of communication, both vertically and horizontally, will enhance collaboration. Our new physical environment will improve the way we work, which is the highest calling of architecture. This headquarters will be a great home for our employees and enable us to adapt to changing business requirement for many decades to survive.'

'The New York Times Headquarters Building will help meet New York City's need for Class 'A' office space,' said Bruce Ratner, president and ceo of FCRC. 'It will spur the continuing revitalization of Eighth Avenue in Midtown, and its design will enrich the Times Square area's landscape and Manhattan's skyline.'

Piano said he took inspiration from the utility and symmetry of Manhattan's rectangular street grid in designing a building with a shape he described as 'simple and primary.'

'Each architecture tells a story, and the story this new building proposes to tell is one of lightness and transparency,' Piano said.