We had the pleasure and honor to meet with some folks at
The New York Times the other day, and when our meeting was over, they kindly offered to give us a tour.
If you have ever set foot in the old NY Times building, the expression "Old Grey Lady" probably conjures more images in your mind of dark, forlorn corridors and crammed-in people and stuff than of the pre-color version of the paper itself. The executive offices, used by the least number of people, were quite beautiful, but the building's most-used space, the lobby, had all but lost its erstwhile grandeur.
The new building, by staggering contrast, is bright, exquisite, and wholly fresh. Moreover, it's the realization of the integration of function and form to which the greatest design aspires. This hits you immediately when you enter the lobby, a huge, natural-light-filled space enclosed by glass walls, one of which is festooned with an exhibit of photos called
Building the Times by Annie Leibovitz. The high-speed elevator system is "smart" – it asks passengers to specify their desired floor before entering, and an automated dispatcher sends you an elevator magically filled with passengers who have the same destination.
The building's climate control system is the stuff of science fiction. A "curtain" of horizontally mounted ceramic tubes reflect or absorb light based on season, time of day, and day- and sunlight levels. This helps keep the exterior of the building at a constant temperature, so the building's HVAC systems don't have to work as hard as they would otherwise. Automated, time-triggered blinds on the outer walls raise and lower as the day progresses to reduce sunlight glare. And throughout the building, localized, adjustable floor vents enable occupants to align air flow with their own comfort levels.
The high, glass ceiling of the newsroom – the "belly of the beast" – evokes the spacious radiance of an atrium. It's almost startling for those familiar with the old newsroom. As we passed a glass-walled conference room filled with earnest-looking faces, my guide remarked that the team within was deciding what stories would be run in the paper the following day. One might assume that these meetings would be conducted in a windowless cloister in some secret location inaccessible to the hoi polloi. But in the new
Times building, there are no such barriers. There are a few offices, but even those have semi-transparent walls. Most people work in low-walled cubicles that not only foster an open-plan feel, but also enable you to turn from your monitor and look out the expansive glass walls to city you serve. Here, everyone enjoys the view.
After the tour, we had lunch in the cafeteria, a giant, split-level space that features an organic and locally grown selection straight from the Whole Foods playbook.
Exiting the elevator and crossing the lobby, gazing again at the collage of Leibovitz photos, one is struck that Piano's vision was simple: a truly humane office environment, built for people and the way they work.
Labels: architecture, design, eco-friendly
