NYC: Hearst Magazine Tower

The Hearst Corporation's $500 million, 856,000 square foot, 42-story steel and glass tower rose at Eighth Avenue and 57th Street in 2006. Hearst, which currently has 1,800 employees spread out in nine separate buildings in Midtown, had long ago outgrown its real estate. The original plan had been to eventually add 12 more stories to the base building, but the Depression intervened and the additional towers were never built.

The new Hearst Building is Pritzker Prize winning architetect Lord Norman Foster's first in New York. Foster’s design preserved the six-story façade of the landmark building that stood on the corner, originally designed for Hearst in 1927 by Joseph Urban and George B. Post & Sons. From its hollowed-out core rises a geodesic-like office tower featuring triangular steel bracing from the 10th floor up. It has no vertical columns around the perimeter, creating corner views that are not possible in a typically framed building.

The steel framework is visible both inside the building and on the street. Referred to as the "diagrid" (a contraction of "diagonal grid"), the perimeter will consist of 4-story-tall, grade-65 steel triangles. In addition to its innovative architectural and structural features, the new Hearst Building was constructed with an eye toward attaining LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, with energy-efficient HVAC systems reducing the consumtpion of resources while holding down pollution.

Architect Sir Norman Foster's distinctive style can be seen in his other works such as 30 Mary Axe, London City Hall, and The Great Court.

The Hearst Magazine Building was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1988.

In 2007, the Heart Tower was ranked #71 on the AIA 150 America's Favorite Architecture list.