The New York Times Building Lobby Garden

The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects

THE NEW YORK TIMES BUILDING LOBBY GARDEN

Cornelia Oberlander Architects, HM White Site Architects

ARCHITECTS
Cornelia Oberlander Architects, HM White Site Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects, HM White Site Architects in collaboration with Cornelia Oberlander Architects

GENERAL CONTRACTOR
Amec Construction Co

LIGHTING
Office for Visual Interaction, Inc

LANDSCAPE CONTRACTOR
Kelco Construction Inc

ARBORIST / SOIL FOOD WEB SPECIALIST
Tree Wise Organics

CLIENT
The New York Times Company

LOCATION
New York City, New York, USA

Text description provided by architect.

The New York Times Building Lobby Garden led by HM White Site Architects in coordination with Cornelia Oberlander Architects, as part of Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FX Fowle Architect's design team, is considered the heart and soul of the headquarters building.

The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects
The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects

Resting on Manhattan Schist bedrock as the building’s only unexcavated area, the courtyard is experienced by 360-degrees of uninterrupted views from a variety of surrounding public spaces and office spaces above.

As a counterpoint to its dense, bustling Times Square neighborhood, the open-air garden’s central building location celebrates a serene fragment of the HudsonRiver Valley woodland landscape at the heart of this man-made construct.

The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects
The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects

Microclimatic conditions were measured through 3-D modeling simulations of seasonal solar radiation levels, wind velocity and temperature variations to identify horticultural limitations and inform a carefully calibrated design.

Transected by a singular path highlighting the sculpted topography, an emerald evergreen carpet of sedges and ferns stages the golden autumn display of the Birch trees and a constellation of flowering bulbs in early spring.

A layered web of infrastructure knits the garden with the building and the ground while also supporting the development of healthy endemic soil biology to ensure long term sustainability in this manufactured site.

The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects
The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects

Strict scheduling and coordination in the NY-Metro region were required to hoist each tree weighing 32,000 pounds over the 70-foot building facade into specific locations and elevations within the courtyard.

Wrapped in a transparent glass veil, the 50-foot tall Birch trees and the undulating carpet of sedges and ferns register a contrasting sculptural relief to the level plane of the floating garden path and the lobby’s White Oak floor. 

No matter where one turns, the garden’s woodland sensibilities possess an omni present, drawing attention and sensual connection to changing light and seasonal qualitative.

The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects
The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects

As event backdrop to the building auditorium, the garden emphasizes themes of transparency, juxtaposition and visual spatial layering against the building’s geo- metric matrix and the lobby’s bold shades of red and marigold yellow.

Beneath the Paper Birch grove, a lush rolling plane of Berkeley Sedge punctuated with Autumn Fern carpets the shaded understory surface.

The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects
The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects

As viewed from above, advance microclimatic simulation studies accurately predicted the courtyard’s growing conditions and path of solar exposure which informed precise locations for the trees and selections for the deep shade-tolerant understory plantings.


The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects
The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects
The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects
The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects
The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects
The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFowle Architects


The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
East West Section
The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
North South Section
The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
Garden Plan


The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
Urban Context
The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
Garden Layering
The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
Site Section


The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
Rendering


The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
Model
The New York Times Building Lobby Garden
Model