151
Global
Height rank

New York Times Tower

New York City
Height
1
To Tip:
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the highest point of the building, irrespective of material or function of the highest element (i.e., including antennae, flagpoles, signage and other functional-technical equipment).
318.8 m / 1,046 ft
2
Architectural:
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the architectural top of the building, including spires, but not including antennae, signage, flag poles or other functional-technical equipment. This measurement is the most widely utilized and is employed to define the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) rankings of the "World's Tallest Buildings."
318.8 m / 1,046 ft
3
Occupied:
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the highest occupied floor within the building.
219.9 m / 721 ft
1 2 3 New York Times Tower
  Floors
Above Ground
The number of floors above ground should include the ground floor level and be the number of main floors above ground, including any significant mezzanine floors and major mechanical plant floors. Mechanical mezzanines should not be included if they have a significantly smaller floor area than the major floors below. Similarly, mechanical penthouses or plant rooms protruding above the general roof area should not be counted. Note: CTBUH floor counts may differ from published accounts, as it is common in some regions of the world for certain floor levels not to be included (e.g., the level 4, 14, 24, etc. in Hong Kong).
52
Height 318.8 m / 1,046 ft
Floors 52
Official Name
The current legal building name.

New York Times Tower

Type
CTBUH collects data on two major types of tall structures: 'Buildings' and 'Telecommunications / Observation Towers.' A 'Building' is a structure where at least 50% of the height is occupied by usable floor area. A 'Telecommunications / Observation Tower' is a structure where less than 50% of the structure's height is occupied by usable floor area. Only 'Buildings' are eligible for the CTBUH 'Tallest Buildings' lists.

Building

Status
Completed
Architecturally Topped Out
Structurally Topped Out
Under Construction
Proposed
On Hold
Never Completed
Vision
Competition Entry
Canceled
Proposed Renovation
Under Renovation
Renovated
Under Demolition
Demolished

Completed

Completion

2007

Country
The CTBUH follows the United Nations's definition of Country, and thus uses the lists and codes established by that organization.

United States

City
The CTBUH follows the United Nations's definition of City, and thus uses the lists and codes established by that organization.

New York City

Address

620 8th Avenue

Function
A single-function tall building is defined as one where 85% or more of its usable floor area is dedicated to a single usage. Thus a building with 90% office floor area would be said to be an "office" building, irrespective of other minor functions it may also contain.

A mixed-use tall building contains two or more functions (or uses), where each of the functions occupy a significant proportion of the tower's total space. Support areas such as car parks and mechanical plant space do not constitute mixed-use functions. Functions are denoted on CTBUH "Tallest Building" lists in descending order, e.g., "hotel/office" indicates hotel function above office function.

Office

Structural Material
All-Steel
Both the main vertical/lateral structural elements and the floor spanning systems are constructed from steel. Note that a building of steel construction with a floor system of concrete planks or concrete slab on top of steel beams is still considered an “all-steel” structure as the concrete elements are not acting as the primary structure.

All-Concrete
Both the main vertical/lateral structural elements and the floor spanning systems are constructed from concrete which has been cast in place and utilizes steel reinforcement bars and/or steel reinforced concrete which has been precast as individual components and assembled together on-site.

All-Timber
Both the main vertical/lateral structural elements and the floor spanning systems are constructed from timber. An all-timber structure may include the use of localized non-timber connections between timber elements. Note that a building of timber construction with a floor system of concrete planks or concrete slab on top of timber beams is still considered an “all-timber” structure as the concrete elements are not acting as the primary structure.

Mixed-Structure
Utilizes distinct systems (e.g. all-steel, all-concrete, all-timber), one on top of the other. For example, a Steel Over Concrete indicates an all-steel structural system located on top of an all-concrete structural system, with the opposite true of Concrete Over Steel.

Composite
A combination of materials (e.g. steel, concrete, timber) are used together in the main structural elements. Examples include buildings which utilize: steel columns with a floor system of reinforced concrete beams; a steel frame system with a concrete core; concrete-encased steel columns; concrete-filled steel tubes; etc. Where known, the CTBUH database breaks out the materials used within a composite building’s primary structural elements.

All-Steel

Height
Architectural
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the architectural top of the building, including spires, but not including antennae, signage, flag poles or other functional-technical equipment. This measurement is the most widely utilized and is employed to define the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) rankings of the "World's Tallest Buildings."

318.8 m / 1,046 ft

To Tip
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the highest point of the building, irrespective of material or function of the highest element (i.e., including antennae, flagpoles, signage and other functional-technical equipment).
318.8 m / 1,046 ft
Occupied
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the highest occupied floor within the building.
219.9 m / 721 ft
Floors Above Ground
The number of floors above ground should include the ground floor level and be the number of main floors above ground, including any significant mezzanine floors and major mechanical plant floors. Mechanical mezzanines should not be included if they have a significantly smaller floor area than the major floors below. Similarly, mechanical penthouses or plant rooms protruding above the general roof area should not be counted. Note: CTBUH floor counts may differ from published accounts, as it is common in some regions of the world for certain floor levels not to be included (e.g., the level 4, 14, 24, etc. in Hong Kong).

52

# of Elevators
Number of Elevators refers to the total number of elevator cars (not shafts) contained within a particular building (including public, private and freight elevators).

32

Top Elevator Speed
Top Elevator Speed refers to the top speed capable of being achieved by an elevator within a particular building, measured in meters per second.

7.1 m/s

Tower GFA
Tower GFA refers to the total gross floor area within the tower footprint, not including adjoining podiums, connected buildings or other towers within the development.

143,601 m² / 1,545,708 ft²

Rankings

#
151
Tallest in the World
#
21
Tallest in North America
#
21
Tallest in United States
#
13
Tallest in New York City

Construction Schedule

2004

Construction Start

2007

Completed

Architect
Design

Usually involved in the front end design, with a "typical" condition being that of a leadership role through either Schematic Design or Design Development, and then a monitoring role through the CD and CA phases.

Structural Engineer
Design

The Design Engineer is usually involved in the front end design, typically taking the leadership role in the Schematic Design and Design Development, and then a monitoring role through the CD and CA phases.

MEP Engineer
Design

The Design Engineer is usually involved in the front end design, typically taking the leadership role in the Schematic Design and Design Development, and then a monitoring role through the CD and CA phases.

Other Consultant

Other Consultant refers to other organizations which provided significant consultation services for a building project (e.g. wind consultants, environmental consultants, fire and life safety consultants, etc).

Interiors
Wind
Material Supplier

Material Supplier refers to organizations which supplied significant systems/materials for a building project (e.g. elevator suppliers, facade suppliers, etc).

Owner
The New York Times Company
Architect
Design

Usually involved in the front end design, with a "typical" condition being that of a leadership role through either Schematic Design or Design Development, and then a monitoring role through the CD and CA phases.

Structural Engineer
Design

The Design Engineer is usually involved in the front end design, typically taking the leadership role in the Schematic Design and Design Development, and then a monitoring role through the CD and CA phases.

MEP Engineer
Design

The Design Engineer is usually involved in the front end design, typically taking the leadership role in the Schematic Design and Design Development, and then a monitoring role through the CD and CA phases.

Contractor
Main Contractor

The main contractor is the supervisory contractor of all construction work on a project, management of sub-contractors and vendors, etc. May be referred to as "Construction Manager," however, for consistency CTBUH uses the term "Main Contractor" exclusively.

American Landmark Properties, Ltd.
Other Consultant

Other Consultant refers to other organizations which provided significant consultation services for a building project (e.g. wind consultants, environmental consultants, fire and life safety consultants, etc).

Energy Concept
Vidaris, Inc.
Interiors
Lighting
Office for Visual Interaction, Inc.
Wind
RWDI; Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment
Material Supplier

Material Supplier refers to organizations which supplied significant systems/materials for a building project (e.g. elevator suppliers, facade suppliers, etc).

Cladding
Shildan Group
Elevator
Fujitec America, Inc.
Fire Proofing
Grace Construction Products
Paint/Coating
AkzoNobel
Steel
Owen Steel Company Inc.; ArcelorMittal

CTBUH Awards & Distinctions

Best Tall Building, by Region, Americas 2008 Winner

2008 CTBUH Awards

10 Year Award 2017 Winner

2017 CTBUH Awards

 

CTBUH Initiatives

CTBUH to Study the Life Cycle of Tall Building Structural Systems

14 November 2012 - Event

Height: The History of Measuring Tall Buildings

16 December 2009 - CTBUH News

 

Videos

30 May 2018 | New York City

For a Modern Media Company, a Tower of Clarity and Transparency

Over the past 10 years, the New York Times Tower has become a landmark worthy of the institution that commissioned it, particularly because of its...

Research

03 March 2008

A Statement in Steel: The New York Times Building

Thomas Z. Scarangello, Kyle E. Krall & Jeffrey A. Callow, Thornton Tomasetti

This paper will outline some of these challenges, focusing on those driven by aesthetic, erection, and fabrication considerations of the exterior steel used on the...

About New York Times Tower

The New York Times Tower is an important new addition to the New York skyline, but, for the Times Company, the building needed to be more than just a beautiful building. It had to support the dramatic transformation of this venerable institution as it reinvented itself in the face of profound shifts in media and market. Indeed, as the publisher repeatedly pushed, the building needed to change the way the Company worked, and this goal suffused the development of the design.

The New York Times Tower incorporates many transcendental themes in good architecture—volume, views, light, respect for context, relationship to the street—with a design that is open and inviting, providing its occupants with a sense of the city around them. The resulting building treads lightly on the natural environment and is an affirmation of the Times Company’s commitment to the city, its Times Square neighborhood, and to the transformative power of great architecture.

The Company’s interior design creates the highest quality interior environment for a 21st century media company, ensuring productivity and that long-term operational and workplace health needs are not only met, but are exceeded. A challenge of the skyscraper is reducing heat from the sun, and the two typical methods are smaller windows or heavily coated glass, methods that, in the words of the building’s architect, produce “selfish buildings,” where the views and light are compromised for both pedestrians looking into the building and occupants looking out.

In contrast to the opaque design of many urban office buildings, The New York Times Tower achieves a high level of transparency with the innovation of a second skin of cleverly spaced ceramic rods to reduce the heat load to a point where the building is energy efficient and yet has the great luxury of floor-to-ceiling, water-white glass.

The result from the outside is a unique level of transparency to the street—revealing the activity within—which embodies the Company’s mission of transmitting an unclouded, lucid report of the news to its public (see image on page 18). The result from the inside is a strong connection with the City and a remarkable degree of natural light. But such a wealth of light also brings glare. To address this issue a first-of-a-kind system was developed: shades automatically adjust to block glare, and the lights dynamically adjust to dim or turn off if the natural light is sufficiently bright. Moreover, with fully digital ballasts, each group can set the level of lighting that they want in their space.

The combination of these elements produced the near-magical confluence of an improved workplace with substantial energy savings. And as an added dividend, the Times Company has widely shared the results of the research and development with the larger community, and the manufacturers have made the system part of their standard offerings.

This dedication to transparency and ani-mated spaces is evident in the building’s lobby. Resisting the typical cold, forbidding corporate lobby, the architects opened the lobby by splitting the core to create an open and inviting space with a vista through the building of some 114 meters (375 feet). This unusual approach not only lightens the building so that it gently touches the ground, but it creates the exciting experience of ‘layers of transparency’ from the hustle and bustle of the lobby through to the quiet of a rare, urban 21x21x21 meter (70x70x70 foot) open-air garden featuring seven birch trees.

CTBUH Awards & Distinctions

Best Tall Building, by Region, Americas 2008 Winner

2008 CTBUH Awards

10 Year Award 2017 Winner

2017 CTBUH Awards

30 May 2018 | New York City

For a Modern Media Company, a Tower of Clarity and Transparency

Over the past 10 years, the New York Times Tower has become a landmark worthy of the institution that commissioned it, particularly because of its...

18 October 2012 | New York City

Fazlur Kahn Lifetime Achievement Medal: A Lifetime’s Engineering Collaboration

The partnership between Charles Thornton and Richard Tomasetti has provided the backbone for many of the most dramatic and innovative tall buildings around the world....

05 March 2008 | New York City

A Statement in Steel: The New York Times Building

Kyle E. Krall, Thornton Tomasetti presented some of the challenges driven by aesthetic, erection, and fabrication considerations of the exterior steel of the New Yotk...

03 March 2008

A Statement in Steel: The New York Times Building

Thomas Z. Scarangello, Kyle E. Krall & Jeffrey A. Callow, Thornton Tomasetti

This paper will outline some of these challenges, focusing on those driven by aesthetic, erection, and fabrication considerations of the exterior steel used on the...

31 December 2007

Tallest Buildings Completed in 2007

333 meters high with 72 stories and 480 suites, Rose Rotana Tower in Dubai leads the list of the 10 tallest buildings completed in 2007....

10 October 2004

Times Square Skyscrapers: Sustainability Reaching New Heights

Sudhir Jambhekar, Fox & Fowle Architects

Times Square has seen the development of more than 15 new high-rises in the past two decades. The firm that has designed the most of...

14 November 2012

CTBUH to Study the Life Cycle of Tall Building Structural Systems

ArcelorMittal has awarded a $300,000 research grant to the CTBUH to study and compare the full range of environmental effects assignable to structural systems in tall buildings.

16 December 2009

Height: The History of Measuring Tall Buildings

This article describes some of the events which took place in the Council's long, and sometimes complex, history of measuring tall buildings.