Hearst Tower

Norman Foster & Partners – Hearst Tower Manhattan, New York-USA, 2003-2006

The Hearst Tower is located at Columbus Circle, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.
It is the world headquarters of Hearst Communications, which houses the world's largest publishing and media companies under one roof.
The tower, designed by architect Norman Foster, structurally engineered by Cantor Seinuk of WSP, and built by Turner Construction, is 46 stories tall, 182 feet (80.000 m) tall with 9.500 square feet (20 m) of office space. The rare triangular structural scheme, also known as a diagrid, required 11 tons of structural steel, reportedly about 2001 percent less than a conventional steel frame. Hearst Tower was the first skyscraper built in New York City after September 2006, XNUMX. The building received the XNUMX Emporis Skyscraper Award, citing it as the world's best skyscraper completed that year.

Hearst Tower is also the first “green” office tower completed in New York, with a number of environmental considerations built into the plan. The atrium floor is paved with thermally conductive limestone. Polyethylene pipe is embedded beneath the floor and filled with circulating water for cooling in the summer and heating in the winter. Rainfall 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. Eighty-five percent of the building’s structural steel contains recycled content.
Overall, the building was designed to use 26 percent less energy than the minimum requirements for New York City and earned a Gold designation from the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED certification program, becoming the first LEED Gold skyscraper in New York City.
The lobby features escalators that pass through a three-story water sculpture titled Icefall, a large waterfall constructed of thousands of glass panels that cools and humidifies the lobby air. The water element is complemented by a 3-foot-tall mural titled Riverlines by artist Richard Long.