HEARST TOWER, NEW YORK

CONCEPT

• The late modernist concept of Space, geometry, and light

• Neutral grid
• The structure is used as an ornament

• Foster’s design preserves the forty six-story façade of the landmark

• From its hollowed-out core rises a geodesic-like office tower featuring triangular steel bracing from the 10th floor up.

• It will have no vertical columns around the perimeter, creating corner views that are not possible in a typically framed building.

FEATURES
Hearst Tower is the first “green” high rise office building completed in New York City, with a number of environmental considerations built into the plan.

The floor of the atrium is paved with heat conductive limestone.

Rain collected on the roof is stored in a tank in the basement for use in the cooling system, to irrigate plants and for the water sculpture in the main lobby.

85% of the building’s structural steel contains recycled material.

Overall, the building has been designed to use 26% less energy than the minimum requirements for the city of New York.

The atrium features escalators which run through a 3-story water sculpture titled Icefall, a wide waterfall built with thousands of glass panels, which cools and humidifies the lobby air.

It is a glazed tower which rises from the interior of the building art deco 1928, producing a big contrast.

The plants of the upper floors are free.

The core of elevators was located to the west, where the tower is bordered by another building.

Its forms are governed by internal structural logic.

The most characteristic feature of the tower is the design of its facade in the form of the diamond.

The relationship with the visual horizon is constantly changing.