Hearst Tower in New York City Officially Opens

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hearst Tower officially opens this evening with a gala celebration presided over by Hearst Corporation President and CEO Victor F. Ganzi, Vice Chairman Frank Bennack, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Hearst Tower architect Lord Norman Foster.

“We also believe it’s a symbol of our determination to add something inspiring to New York’s skyline and a demonstration of the vast possibilities and benefits of green design.”

The 46-story glass-and-steel world headquarters tower rising 597 feet from within its landmark six-story base on Eighth Avenue between 56^th and 57^th Streets now houses 2,000 New York City-based Hearst employees as well as some of the world’s best-known print, electronic and interactive brands.

“Hearst Tower is a statement about who we are as a company, the confidence with which we view the future in a changing world of media, and about our place in this great city,” said Ganzi. “We also believe it’s a symbol of our determination to add something inspiring to New York’s skyline and a demonstration of the vast possibilities and benefits of green design.”

Hearst Tower is the first occupied office building in New York City to achieve the coveted Gold rating under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. The designation recognizes Hearst’s commitment to constructing a headquarters to some of the highest standards of environmental quality and occupant health.

The new headquarters completes Hearst Corporation founder William Randolph Hearst's vision for a world-class tower at the site as well as the establishment of a thriving media, communications and cultural center in the Columbus Circle area. The original landmark structure was designed by Joseph Urban and George B. Post & Sons in 1926, built by W. R. Hearst in 1928, and designated a New York City landmark in 1988.

Said Lord Foster: “The completion of Hearst Tower is a defining moment for New York. It represents great optimism and a sign of more good things to come after the trauma of the city’s recent history. I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to work on the realization of this dream originally envisioned in 1926. It is a mark of a determined client and a great city that this tower literally sparkles on the New York skyline today.”

Redefining the Workplace

With its efficient use of resources and efficient spaces, as well as abundant natural daylight and fresh air, modern technologies and an open layout that emphasizes increased communication and collaboration among Hearst employees, Hearst Tower redefines the modern workplace.

In addition to its magazine and corporate offices, Hearst Tower boasts an ultra-modern broadcast studio, a digital photography center, a first-class fitness center (theCLUB) open to employees at subsidized prices, an executive conference and dining center (The 44^th Floor), a 340-seat corporate café (Cafe57), a 168-seat theater (Joseph Urban Theater), exhibition spaces and a sleek Good Housekeeping Research Institute—housing a wide range of facilities and equipment to test virtually every consumer product in America, as well as the fabled Good Housekeeping Dining Room.

A New Icon for New York City

Unlike a traditionally framed structure, Hearst Tower has a triangulated form. With its corners peeled back, the effect, created by Lord Foster and Foster and Partners, emphasizes the building's vertical proportions and creates a distinctive faceted silhouette on the skyline that reveals unique views across the Manhattan grid. Requiring 20 percent less steel—90 percent of which is recycled—it is also more efficient than a conventional tower.

Establishing a creative dialogue between old and new, the tower is linked to the existing building by a transparent skirt of glass which floods the spaces below with natural light, giving the impression of a glass tower floating weightlessly above. The main spatial event is a vast internal plaza—an ‘urban living room’—that occupies the entire shell of the historic base. This dramatic space, surrounded by the original windowed masonry walls, creates a bold entrance that echoes the tone and texture of the 1920s exterior to evoke a sense of the civic realm. Providing access to all parts of the building, it is the social heart of the Hearst community, incorporating Cafe57, the Joseph Urban Theater and exhibition spaces.

A series of diagonal escalators set between a cascading fall of chilled water connect the street level to the grand internal plaza, with elevated mezzanine levels used for meetings, exhibitions and special functions. The two-story-high “Icefall”—a collaboration of Foster and Partners with glass specialist Jamie Carpenter and Jim Garland of Fluidity—uses collected rainwater to cool the atrium in summer and humidify it in wintertime.

“Riverlines”—a 40- by 70-foot installation—by artist Richard Long, is a rich, contemplative mural set against the elegant gray stone of the elevator core. Like a cave painting for the 21^st century, it is created from the mud of the Avon and Hudson rivers and celebrates the metaphor of the river as a symbol of journey, movement and life.

Contributors to the Hearst project include: Tishman Speyer—owner’s developer; Foster and Partners—design architects; Turner Construction—construction manager; Adamson Associates—associate architects; Gensler—interior architects; WSP Cantor Seinuk— structural engineers; and Flack and Kurtz—mechanical engineers.

Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) is one of the nation's largest diversified communications companies. Its major interests span nearly 200 magazines around the world, including Cosmopolitan and O, The Oprah Magazine; 12 daily newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle and San Francisco Chronicle; 28 television stations through Hearst-Argyle Television (NYSE: HTV) which reach a combined 18% of U.S. viewers; ownership in leading cable networks, including Lifetime, A&E, The History Channel and ESPN; as well as business publishing, Internet businesses, television production, newspaper features distribution and real estate.