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| Architect | Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Paris/Genua; FXFowles Architects, New York |
| Lighting designer | OVI Office for visual interaction, New York |
| Photographer | Frieder Blickle |
| Project location | New York City |
Designed by Renzo Piano for the New York Times newspaper, Manhattan's new skyscraper boasts an approximately 300-metre tall facade illuminated by ERCO lighting tools.
Over the past four years a new landmark has been steadily advancing skywards at the crossroads of 8th Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan: the 348-metre tower of the New York Times Building. Designed by Renzo Piano together with the New York design offices Fox & Fowle, the office block is the new headquarters of the famous daily paper. The most notable design feature is a lattice of white ceramic tubes placed in front of the glass curtain facade, giving the gigantic building an unusually bright and lightweight appearance. To ensure this impression also continues into the night, the architects collaborated with the lighting design offices OVI (Office for Visual Interaction).
The lighting concept for the New York Times Building comes from the Office for Visual Interaction (Jean Sundin and Enrique Peiniger).
For the illumination of the approximately 300-metre tall facade, the designers used a large number of Beamer projectors and Lightscoop floodlights for metal halide lamps, positioning these both on the building itself and on neighbouring buildings so as to produce a highly uniform brightness progression. In homage to the city's omnipresent taxis some of the luminaires are painted in original New York taxicab yellow. Precise aiming, efficient lamps and modern lighting technology all make for a low-maintenance and economical installation.
As well as the facades, the semi-public areas in the ground floor area are also an integral part of the lighting concept. The ceilings in the foyer are illuminated by Lightscoop floodlights. In the prestigious event rooms ERCO spotlights and floodlights for architectural lighting are arranged alongside the stage lighting.
Adress
620 Eighth Avenue
New York, New York
10018
USA
www.thetimescenter.com
Architects
Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Genoa/Paris
www.rpbw.com
FX Fowle Architects, New York
Lighting designers
OVI Office for Visual Interaction
www.oviinc.com
Construction period: 2003 - 2007
Construction cost: $850 million US dollars
52 storeys
Floor area: 143,000m² (1,540,000sq.ft)
Height to the top of the aerial: 319m (1,046ft)
Height to the roof: 228m (748ft)