title: Afro-Jamaicans

text: Pub Med results were also issued in the same year (2012): "Our results reveal that the studied population of Jamaica exhibit a predominantly South-Saharan paternal component, with haplogroups A1b-V152, A3-M32, B2-M182, E1a-M33, E1b1a-M2, E2b-M98, and R1b2-V88 comprising 66.7% of the Jamaican paternal gene pool. Yet, European derived chromosomes (i.e., haplogroups G2a*-P15, I-M258, R1b1b-M269, and T-M184) were detected at commensurate levels in Jamaica (18.9%), whereas Y-haplogroups indicative of Chinese [O-M175 (3.8%)] and Indian [H-M69 (0.6%) and L-M20 (0.6%)] ancestry were restricted to Jamaica. African paternal DNA 66.7%


title: Afro-Jamaicans

text: The gene pool of Jamaica is about 78.3% Sub-Saharan African, 16% European, and 5.7% East Asian; according to a 2010 autosomal genealogical DNA testing.


title: Mary Costa

text: Mary Costa (born April 5, 1930) is an American retired actress and singer. Her most notable film credit is providing the voice of Princess Aurora in the 1959 Disney animated film "Sleeping Beauty", of which she is the last surviving original voice actress of the first three Disney Princesses created in Walt Disney's lifetime and for which she was named a Disney Legend in 1999. She is a recipient of the 2020 National Medal of Arts.


title: Mary Costa

text: Mary Costa was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she lived for much of her childhood. Raised as a Baptist of Italian descent, she sang Sunday school solos at the age of six. At Knoxville High School (Tennessee), she sang in the chorus. When she was in her early teens, her family relocated to Los Angeles, California, where she completed high school and won a Music Sorority Award as the outstanding voice among Southern California high school seniors. Following high school, she entered the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music to study with famed maestro Gaston Usigli. Between 1948 and 1951, she appeared with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy on the Bergen radio show. She also sang with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in concerts at UCLA, and made numerous commercials for Lux Radio Theatre.


title: Mary Costa

text: In 1952, after meeting people at a party with her future husband, director Frank Tashlin, she auditioned for the part of Disney's Princess Aurora, the Sleeping Beauty, in Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" (1959). Walt Disney called her personally within hours of the audition to inform her that the part was hers. In 1958, Costa was called upon to substitute for Elisabeth Schwarzkopf at a gala concert in the Hollywood Bowl, conducted by Carmen Dragon. Thanks to glowing reviews from that performance, she was invited to sing the lead in her first fully staged operatic production, "The Bartered Bride", produced by the renowned German producer, Carl Ebert, for the Los Angeles Guild Opera. Ebert later requested she appear at the Glyndebourne Festival, where she debuted.


title: Mary Costa

text: Costa went on to perform in 44 operatic roles on stages throughout the world, including Jules Massenet's "Manon" at the Metropolitan Opera, and Violetta in "La Traviata" at the Royal Opera House in London and the Bolshoi in Moscow, and Cunegonde in the 1959 London premiere of Leonard Bernstein's "Candide". In 1961, for RCA, she recorded Musetta in "La bohème", opposite Anna Moffo and Richard Tucker, with the Rome Opera House Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Erich Leinsdorf.


title: Mary Costa

text: Among roles which she sang for the San Francisco Opera, she was Tytania in the American premiere of Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1961), Ninette in the world premiere of Norman Dello Joio's "Blood Moon" (1961), and Anne Truelove in the San Francisco premiere of Stravinsky's "The Rake's Progress". She made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Violetta in "La Traviata" on January 6, 1964.


title: Mary Costa

text: Costa impressed television audiences throughout her career with guest appearances on many shows, such as Bing Crosby's "Christmas Show" on NBC-TV. She appeared with Crosby and Sergio Franchi on "The Hollywood Palace" in 1970. She also appeared on Frank Sinatra's "Woman of the Year" Timex Special for NBC, where, with others, she was honored as one of the Women of the Year. In 1973, Sammy Davis Jr. asked her to appear on his first "NBC Follies", in which she performed a blues selection with Sammy, backed up by Charlie Parker.


title: Mary Costa

text: Jacqueline Kennedy asked her to sing at a memorial service for her husband, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, from the Los Angeles Sports Arena in 1963. She sang for the inaugural concert of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1971. In 1972, she starred in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature "The Great Waltz", depicting the life of Johann Strauss II. Additional movie credits include "The Big Caper" (1957) and "Marry Me Again" (1953).


title: Mary Costa

text: Having retired from acting in 2000, Costa has dedicated her later years to inspiring children and teenagers, giving motivational talks at schools and colleges across the country. She is also a celebrity endorser for child abuse prevention. She continues to do promotional appearances for Disney, most recently for the Blu-ray release of "Sleeping Beauty" and the 50th anniversary of the film.


title: Mary Costa

text: In 1989, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation. When Disney began releasing videocassette versions of its animated films, Costa was one of three actresses to file lawsuits over royalties for their performances; at the time of Costa's 1989 filing, Peggy Lee of "Lady and the Tramp" (1955) later won her lawsuit in April 1990 and Ilene Woods of "Cinderella" (1950) filed hers in December 1990. Voice actress Jennifer Hale replaced Costa as the voice of Aurora in 2001. In November 1999, she received the Disney Legends Award, and her handprints are now a permanent part of the Disney Legends Plaza at the entrance to Disney Studios. In 2000 she was selected as the Tennessee Woman of Distinction by the American Lung Association. And in April 2001, she was honored by the Metropolitan Opera Guild for Distinguished Verdi Performances of the 20th Century. In 2003 she was appointed by President George W. Bush to the National Council on the Arts, where she served until 2007. In December 2007, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree by Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee. On November 2, 2007, she was inducted into the Knoxville Opera Hall of Fame. Earlier she had launched the inaugural Knoxville Opera season in 1978 as Violetta in "La Traviata".


title: Mary Costa

text: On April 24, 2012, Costa served as the commencement speaker at Pellissippi State graduation ceremony. On November 10, 2014, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane and Musical Letters from the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In 2014, Costa was named one of the YWCA Knoxville's Tribute to Women Honorees during the 30th anniversary celebration. On March 17, 2015 she was a recipient of Tennessee's 2015 Governor's Arts Award. On her 86th birthday, Costa wrote an open letter to her fans thanking them for their support. She also announced that she would no longer directly reply to fan-mail, but she would continue to sign autographs and meet fans at events while also focusing her efforts on working with young children. In August 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Costa once again thanked fans for their continued support but also announced that she would no longer respond to any fan-mail at all due to the overwhelming amount she received following her 90th birthday. She was awarded the National Medal of Arts on January 13, 2021.


title: The Football Factory (film)

text: The Football Factory is a 2004 British sports drama film written by AJ Lovell and directed by Nick Love and starring Danny Dyer, Tamer Hassan, Frank Harper, Roland Manookian, Neil Maskell and Dudley Sutton. The film is loosely based on the novel of the same name by John King and the first foray into filmmaking by video game producers Rockstar Games (creators of games such as the "Grand Theft Auto" series, among others), credited as executive producers. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 14 May 2004.


title: The Football Factory (film)

text: In 2004, Chelsea F.C. football supporters' fanzine "cfcuk" produced a special edition, titled "cfcuk - The Football Factory" to coincide with the release of the film.


title: The Football Factory (film)

text: Tommy Johnson (Danny Dyer) is a member of a violent Chelsea hooligan firm. His friends and fellow hooligans include Tommy's best friend Rod King (Neil Maskell), the hot-tempered Billy Bright (Frank Harper), and impulsive younger members Zeberdee (Roland Manookian) and Raf (Calum MacNab). Tommy spends his days drinking, using drugs, womanising and fighting, much to the disappointment of his grandfather Bill Farrell (Dudley Sutton), a pensioner and veteran who plans to move to Australia with his best friend Albert (John Junkin).


title: The Football Factory (film)

text: Tommy has an epiphany about his lifestyle during a fight with the Tottenham hooligan firm. Tommy, Billy and Rod are arrested for assaulting two Stoke City fans whilst travelling to an away match. These actions draw the fury of Harris (Tony Denham), the leader of the Chelsea firm, whose attempts to keep order are thwarted by Billy's aggressive outbursts.


title: The Football Factory (film)

text: Rod begins a relationship with Tamara (Sophie Linfield), the court clerk at their arraignment, and she pressures him to skip his weekend meets. Zeberdee and his friend Raff accidentally burgle Billy's house and are forced to stand in his living room, whilst Billy's children throw darts at them. Billy deals with his increasing loneliness after he overhears Harris discussing his irrelevance. Bill's plan to retire to Australia are postponed when Albert dies the night before they are to leave.


title: The Football Factory (film)

text: Early in the film, Tommy is caught and held hostage by the brother of Sian (Michele Hallak), a girl he picked up at a club. He is saved when Rod hits the man on the head with a cricket bat. Sian's brother turns out to also be the brother of the rival Millwall firm's leader, Fred (Tamer Hassan), who then hunts Tommy down throughout the entire film. The film culminates in a pitched battle between the Chelsea and Millwall firms. Rod (after a few espressos and a line of cocaine), leaves a dinner with Tamara's parents after offending them, and attends the "meet". Tommy is severely beaten by Fred and a group of Millwall hooligans, and ends up in the hospital with Bill, who, in the meantime, has suffered a heart attack.


title: The Football Factory (film)

text: At the end of the film, a crippled Tommy decides that his place is at the firm with his friends, Bill gets cured and moves to Australia and Billy Bright is incarcerated for seven years after being arrested at the Millwall meet (whilst saving Harris from being arrested). Zeberdee is killed by a drug dealer whom he had previously mugged, fulfilling a recurring nightmare that tormented Tommy throughout the film.


title: The Football Factory (film)

text: "The Football Factory" received negative reviews. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 38% of 8 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.70/10.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: Development of "Final Fantasy XIII-2" began in early 2010 and lasted about one and a half years. The game was unveiled at the Square Enix 1st Production Department Premier in January 2011. Many of the key designers remained in their roles from the previous game, and developer tri-Ace was hired to help with the game's design, art, and programming. The development team wanted to exceed "Final Fantasy XIII" in every aspect while making the story's tone more dark and mysterious than the previous game. The game builds upon the Paradigm Shift battle system used in "Final Fantasy XIII" and includes a less linear overall design.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: "Final Fantasy XIII-2" received critical acclaim in Japan and generally positive reviews from Western video game journalists. Though praised for its gameplay, lack of linearity, and graphics, the game's story was criticized as weak and confusing. The game was the fifth-best selling game of 2011 in Japan, and sold 3.1 million copies worldwide by January 2013. A sequel, "", was released in 2013 in Japan and 2014 worldwide.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: "Final Fantasy XIII-2" is a role-playing video game sequel to "Final Fantasy XIII". As in the previous game, the player controls their on-screen character through a third-person perspective to interact with people, objects, and enemies throughout the game. The player can also turn the camera around the characters, providing a 360° view. "Final Fantasy XIII-2" has a world rendered to scale relative to the characters; instead of a caricature of the character roaming around miniature terrain, as found in the earlier "Final Fantasy" games, every area is represented proportionally. The player navigates the world on foot or by chocobo, large flightless birds that appear regularly in the "Final Fantasy" series. The game world is divided into multiple regions and time periods. The player can visit a region in multiple time periods and multiple regions at the same time period. For example, the region of Oerba can be reached in the years 200 and 400 AF, while the Sunleth Waterscape and Augusta Tower regions can be visited in the year 300 AF. Some regions, because of plot points within the game, have alternate versions of themselves; for example, two versions of the Academia region in the same year can be accessed once the plot has made the second version available. Connecting all these regions is the Historia Crux, which the player can access at will. The game's regions are represented as a branching path instead of being accessed linearly. New regions can be unlocked via plot points or by acquiring optional special items and the player may transfer between unlocked regions at any point.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: When accessing a previously visited region, the player appears in the location of their last visit. Upon acquiring items called seals, the player can revert regions to their previous statuses to play through them again; regions can be unsealed again at any time. Unlike in the predecessor, the game is automatically saved when the player enter the Historia Crux, as well as at key moments in the plot. The player may also manually save at any time. Instead of accessing stores at save points like in "XIII", the player can purchase items from a character named Chocolina, who is found throughout the game. An in-game data log provides a bestiary and incidental information about the world of "Final Fantasy XIII-2". When talking to characters, the game sometimes begins the Live Trigger system, in which the player chooses their response from several options; these dialogue options are generally not repeatable. The game also occasionally features temporal rifts, in which the player must complete a puzzle to close the rift and continue the game.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: Combat is almost identical to the previous game's version of the series' Active Time Battle (ATB) system, called the Command Synergy Battle system. Under this system, the player selects actions from the menus, such as Attack, Abilities, or Item, and queues them up in the ATB bar. Each action requires one or more slots on the ATB bar, which begins the game with three slots and can be increased over the game to six. The ATB bar continually fills with energy over time; the player can wait for the bar to fill up for the enqueued actions to be performed, or may empty the bar early to perform whatever actions have been charged. The player may also select an autobattle command, which fills the ATB slots with actions chosen automatically. Actions the characters can perform include close-range melee attacks, ranged magical attacks, and other magical actions that evoke healing or shielding abilities. Actions cannot be performed outside of combat, and the characters' health is fully restored after each fight.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: As the player travels through an area, monsters can randomly appear. For a limited time after monsters appear, the player may attack them to gain a combat bonus; after this window expires, the monsters attack the player to begin a regular battle. When the battle begins, the screen transitions from the regular map to a separate battle screen. The player has the option of restarting a battle while in the middle of a fight. Three characters are used in combat—the two main characters and a monster. Monsters must be captured from battles before they can be used, and there are around 150 different monster types available to be collected. Captured monsters act just like the main characters, but can also perform a "feral link" attack that increases the chance of capturing another monster. Either of the two main characters can be selected as the one that the player has direct control over at any point; the other character and the monster are then controlled by the game's artificial intelligence (AI).


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: Each enemy has a meter, called a Chain Gauge, consisting of a percentage that increases from a base level of 100 when the enemy is struck by attacks or spells. The amount of damage performed by an attack is multiplied by the chain percentage before it is applied to the enemy. Different attacks have different effects; some raise the chain by a larger amount while others give the player longer before the Chain Gauge resets to 100 percent. When the chain counter reaches a preset amount, different for each enemy, the enemy becomes Staggered. In this mode, the enemy has lowered defense and is easily interrupted, and some may even be launched into the air, preventing them from attacking and stopping their ATB gauges from replenishing.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: The Paradigm system allows the player to program six different roles, which the characters can assume to perform certain formations in battle in response to specific conditions. The roles consist of Commando, which uses non-elemental attacks to stabilize the Chain Gauge; Ravager, which uses elemental attacks to fill the Chain Gauge; Medic, a White Mage-type role which can heal the party; Saboteur, which can weaken enemies; Synergist, which can strengthen allies; and Sentinel, which has protective abilities. The two main characters can initially assume three roles, but they can learn others at the player's choosing as the game progresses. The player can select which roles the controlled character and the AI characters use while outside or during battle, which is the only way that the player can control the AI characters during a fight. The player can choose only from specific sets of paradigms that the player has set up before the battle. Monsters have only one role; different ones are used when the player switches paradigms. The player selects up to three monsters they wish to use in paradigms outside of battle.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: The Crystarium is a leveling and growth system, making a return from "Final Fantasy XIII" in an altered form. The system consists of constellation-style representations of the character's weapons and tamed monsters, made up of small and large crystal nodes, which can be accessed from the start of the game. There is one Crystarium system available for each monster and Paradigm role. Crystogen points gained in battle can be used to expand the Crystarium, unlocking bonuses to health, magic, or strength, or provide the characters with new abilities and slots for battle accessories. For the monsters, the bonuses are unlocked with items dropped by defeated enemies.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: The story of "Final Fantasy XIII-2" follows on from that of "Final Fantasy XIII", but as is typical for the series, it is unrelated to all other previous "Final Fantasy" games. In "XIII", one of the fal'Cie—a god-like race—transformed a team of six people into l'Cie (servants of the fal'Cie with magical powers and a 'Focus'—an assigned task to be completed within a time limit). The fal'Cie hoped these l'Cie would initiate the end of the world, Gran Pulse, by crashing the floating and inhabited sphere Cocoon into it. At the finale of the game, two of the l'Cie transformed into a crystal pillar to support Cocoon, preventing the catastrophe.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: "XIII-2" begins three years after the end of "XIII". Owing to the collapse of Cocoon's government (the Sanctum), most of Cocoon's inhabitants have moved down to Gran Pulse, and some have learned magical abilities. Over the course of the game, a scientific body called the Academy becomes a new technocratic government. While much of the story takes place in the year 3 AF, the story of "XIII-2" jumps between different time periods, and even parallel versions of different places, accessed via the Historia Crux. Much of the game takes place on Gran Pulse and inside Cocoon. Other locations include the Void Beyond, a limbo between time periods, and Valhalla, the capital of the goddess Etro. This place is a realm at the end of time where Etro keeps a dark energy called Chaos from escaping and destroying the timeline.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: As opposed to the previous game, Lightning (Ali Hillis/Maaya Sakamoto), the main character of "XIII", only appears as a supporting character and the game's primary narrator. The two main playable characters are Serah Farron (Laura Bailey/Minako Kotobuki), Lightning's sister and the second narrator, and Noel Kreiss (Jason Marsden/Daisuke Kishio), a young man originally from the distant future. Other characters from the previous game who appear in important roles are Hope Estheim (Vincent Martella/Yūki Kaji), who becomes leader of the Academy, and Snow Villiers (Troy Baker/Daisuke Ono), Serah's fiancé, who set off to find Lightning for Serah. The other main characters from the previous game appear in cameo roles. New characters include Caius Ballad (Liam O'Brien/Hiroshi Shirokuma), the game's primary antagonist; Paddra Nsu-Yeul (Amber Hood/Mariya Ise), a seeress possessing the all-seeing Eyes of Etro; and Alyssa Zaidelle (Kim Mai Guest/Yōko Hikasa), a young girl who works as an assistant to Hope.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: The game opens in 3 AF, as the Pulse town Serah lives in is attacked by monsters. A stranger named Noel appears to help fight the monsters and claims to be a time traveler from 700 AF. He arrived in her time via Valhalla, where he claims to have met Lightning as she guarded the throne of the weakened Etro. As part of Lightning's transfer to Valhalla, she was erased from the fall of Cocoon onwards (making everyone except Serah forget her being with them on Gran Pulse), and paradoxes have erupted throughout time, warping the timeline. Serah joins Noel in a journey to resolve these paradoxes by removing items and monsters that are out of their original time; she in hopes of finding her sister, and he in hopes of changing the bleak future he comes from. While journeying to 5 AF to resolve a paradox on Cocoon, they meet and help Alyssa, an Academy member and survivor of the Purge, a massacre by the Sanctum at the beginning of "Final Fantasy XIII".


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: Traveling to the ruined city of Paddra in 10 AF, they find Hope leading the Academy, with Alyssa as his assistant. They also find a recording of prophecies made by one of the seeresses of Paddra, who are believed to have died out centuries prior: one fragmented prophecy shows Lightning in Valhalla. Paddra is shrouded by an eclipse, which Noel says is not supposed to happen for several centuries. While Serah and Noel resolve the paradox causing the eclipse, they encounter Caius Ballad, a man Noel knows from 700 AF who opposes their mission, and Yeul, who looks identical to a girl of the same name Noel knew in the future. After resolving the paradox, an alternative timeline appears in which there was never an eclipse. The repaired prophecy shows Caius in Valhalla fighting Lightning and the pillar supporting Cocoon collapsing. Noel claims that this takes place around 400 AF, devastating the human population as well as the world, creating a future where he is the last human in existence. Serah and Noel move on, while Hope and Alyssa work on finding a way to prevent the pillar's collapse.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: In 300 AF, the pair find Snow fighting a giant paradox-fueled monster that is dissolving the crystal pillar. After resolving the paradox, which delays the fall of Cocoon until 500 AF, Snow disappears again as an anomaly from another time. The pair then go to the city of Academia on Gran Pulse in 400 AF where they are attacked by the city's AI, which claims they were killed two hundred years previously. Traveling to 200 AF, they discover a paradox whereby a man-made fal'Cie meant to re-levitate Cocoon turned on its creators. Resolving the paradox, Noel and Serah travel to an alternative 400 AF Academia. In this world, the pair find Hope and Alyssa again, who had put themselves in stasis. They explain their new plan to mechanically float a new Cocoon to hold humanity, which Serah and Noel help with before heading to 500 AF Academia. They are betrayed by Alyssa (revealed to be a living paradox doomed to disappear in the corrected timeline) and trapped by Caius in dream-worlds. Before being trapped, Serah meets the spirit of Yeul, who explains that she is the seeress of Paddra, continually reincarnated throughout history, while Caius is her immortal guardian, gifted with Etro's own heart.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: Yeul explains that every time the timeline is changed, the resulting shock kills her; Caius has been driven mad by watching her die repeatedly and seeks to end the process by unleashing the Chaos trapped in Valhalla to destroy all time. Serah has the same power, and risks death every time she changes the future. Resolving to go on, Serah breaks free of her dream-world and frees Noel from his, in which he is the last living human after his Yeul dies and Caius leaves for Valhalla. After briefly encountering Lightning, the pair fight Caius, first in 500 AF Academia and then in Valhalla. As they defeat him, he claims to have killed Lightning, then impales himself through the heart on Noel's blade, killing the weakened Etro. When the pair return to Academia in 500 AF, where Vanille and Fang have been rescued from the collapsing pillar and the new Cocoon, named "Bhunivelze", has risen, Serah dies in front of Noel and Hope from the shock of the future changing. A black cloud erupts from the sky as the Chaos that Etro was keeping trapped breaks free. Lightning is then shown in crystal stasis on the throne of Etro's temple. If the player completes all optional parts of the game, they are shown an additional scene in which Caius is on the throne, declaring that the goddess is gone for good, and that Yeul and he can begin a new life freed from their 'curse'.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: Development of "Final Fantasy XIII-2" began around March and April 2010 and lasted about one and a half years. It was carried out by Square Enix's 1st Production Department, a collective name for the teams in charge of the "Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy", "Dissidia Final Fantasy" and "Kingdom Hearts" series. Many of the key personnel from "Final Fantasy XIII" remained in their roles: Motomu Toriyama was director, Yoshinori Kitase producer, Tetsuya Nomura character designer and Isamu Kamikokuryo art director. "Final Fantasy XIII-2" was officially announced at the Square Enix 1st Production Department Premier in Tokyo on January 18, 2011, and released on December 15, 2011.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: The troubled development of "Final Fantasy XIII" that had been caused by the simultaneous creation of the company-wide engine Crystal Tools gave reason to rethink the production process for high-budget games at Square Enix. For "Final Fantasy XIII-2", the team consulted the European subsidiary Eidos to more closely adapt a Western approach to game development. As a consequence, monthly schedules and project milestones were introduced to better monitor the staff members' progress. Furthermore, unlike its predecessor, "Final Fantasy XIII-2" was not entirely developed in-house; Japanese studio tri-Ace was contracted to help out with aspects of the game design, art and programming. This was done to keep the number of internal staff members on the game lower. The contributions of external developers were planned and clearly divided beforehand to achieve a more structured team organization. Concept videos and frequent test playing during production helped constantly engage the staff and keep to the original vision of the game.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: Despite its strong sales, "Final Fantasy XIII" had been criticized on several fronts. Complaints included that the game had been too linear, had not allowed enough interaction with non-player characters, and had not featured enough minigames and puzzles. The developers intended to address these criticisms with the sequel by adding the Historia Crux system, numerous sidequests from non-player characters, and the casino minigame area. Environments were made more explorable and the artists were given more freedom to include their own ideas in the game's locations, in order to rectify the shortcomings of the more artificial seeming settings in "Final Fantasy XIII". The developers viewed the changes from "XIII" to be improvements to the game, rather than simply removing aspects of that game that players disliked. For the structure of side quests and some other aspects such as the abundance of chocobos and the more open environment, the team drew inspiration from Rockstar San Diego's "Red Dead Redemption".


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: Toriyama originally envisioned the plot not as a direct sequel to "Final Fantasy XIII" but instead as taking place 900 years after. However, while creating the backstory for the events in between both eras, it was decided to have the game revolve around time traveling. Toriyama expressed his wish to "create a story where [Lightning] ends up [truly] happy one day" as he considered her emotional state at the end of "Final Fantasy XIII" doubtful. He also wanted to "see [Serah] take an active part" because her crystal stasis over the course of the predecessor's story did not allow for such a role. Lead scenario writer Daisuke Watanabe thought about how the narrative could be continued in a sequel. Emi Nagashima, also known by her pen name Jun Eishima, had written novellas for "Final Fantasy XIII" and was consulted early on in development to help come up with the plot for "Final Fantasy XIII-2".


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: The narrative was divided into smaller "pieces of drama" similar to a television series rather than one overarching story piece. This was reflected by the game's working title "Final Fantasy XIII: Season 2" when the project was first proposed within the company. Unlike "Final Fantasy X-2", which had a more cheerful and humorous feel than "Final Fantasy X", the staff members wanted the overall tone of "Final Fantasy XIII-2" to be serious as well as darker and more mysterious than its predecessor. The original scenario had called for Serah to travel alone with Mog. However, Kitase felt that their dialogue was "quite girly, almost camp and a bit over the top" and resulted in a tonal shift that was too similar to the one from "X" to "X-2". Noel was added to the story to counter this. Watanabe considered scriptwriting for the game's two-character party difficult. With the lack of varied personality traits provided by an ensemble cast, he had to ensure that conversations between Serah and Noel would not be repetitive or unrealistic. Unfamiliar concepts and terms in "Final Fantasy XIII", such as "l'Cie" and "fal'Cie", were deemed too difficult to understand and hence avoided in the sequel. A story link to "Final Fantasy Type-0" via the location Valhalla was planned but later discarded.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: Based on the much darker tone of "Final Fantasy XIII-2" compared to its predecessor, Kamikokuryo decided on surrealism as the main theme for the graphics. The works of Salvador Dalí and Giorgio de Chirico were used as visual references and helped Kamikokuryo strike a balance between photorealism and fantasy-like surrealism. Unlike "Final Fantasy XIII", the game had a much tighter schedule allowing for little pre-production. Kamikokuryo hence used photographs instead of self-drawn pictures to explain his setting ideas to the other staff members. For example, a photograph of ruined buildings in the Cuban capital Havana inspired the look of Valhalla. Character design duties were split up: Nomura designed the faces of the new and returning main characters while their clothing was done by other artists. Kamikokuryo drew the final version of Lightning based on a silhouette sketch and suggestions by Nomura. Yusuke Naora took charge of Serah's, Noel's and Caius' costumes, while Hideo Minaba worked on Yeul, Alyssa and the adult version of Hope in the same capacity. The Moogle Mog was designed by Toshitaka Matsuda after he had received a request for a cute and mascot-like character.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: The music of "Final Fantasy XIII-2" was composed by Masashi Hamauzu, Naoshi Mizuta, and Mitsuto Suzuki. Keiji Kawamori coordinated the three artists to ensure their styles meshed well. Hamauzu, who was the sole composer for the music of "Final Fantasy XIII", wrote roughly a quarter of the game's tracks, as did Suzuki, while Mizuta wrote nearly half. Prior to this game, Mizuta had worked on the music of "Final Fantasy XI", and Suzuki had been a sound director for several Square Enix games and served as an arranger for "XIII". The game's director, Motomu Toriyama, wanted the game's soundtrack to have more variety than that of the music in "Final Fantasy XIII", as well as feature more styles. As a result, the game had three composers rather than just Hamauzu. Toriyama also wished for the music to have "a more edgy sound" and more vocal pieces, so that it would sound "unlike the typical "Final Fantasy" title". The music incorporates a wide variety of styles, from orchestral and electronic to rap, hip-hop, jazz funk, and metal.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: Since the release of the game, Square Enix has published the 2011 four-disc soundtrack album, "Final Fantasy XIII-2 Original Soundtrack", as well as an album of arrangements and alternate versions of tracks from the game, "Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack PLUS", in 2012. The theme song for the game, , was released by singer Mai Fukui as a single in 2011, and the English version of the song, sung by Charice Pempengco and included in the non-Japanese versions of the game, was included on her 2012 album "Infinity". Reviews of the soundtrack album were positive, with critics praising both the variety of styles and quality of the pieces. Several critics noted Mizuta's work as possibly his finest to date. Reviewers were mixed in their opinions of the arranged album, feeling that several of the pieces were simply inferior versions of the original tracks. Both of the albums and the single sold well enough to place on the Japanese Oricon charts, with the original soundtrack album reaching a peak of #13 and remaining on the charts for eight weeks.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: The game features downloadable content (DLC) in the form of downloadable outfits, weapons, accessories, scenarios, recruitable monsters and minigames. Although there had been initial plans to release DLC for "Final Fantasy XIII", these ideas did not come to fruition. For "Final Fantasy XIII-2", the team designed and planned for content, including DLC, that would expand on the game since the beginning of its development. Players who own "Final Fantasy XIII" save data can unlock an additional wallpaper (PS3) or gamer picture (Xbox 360) for the save file. DLC released after the game contained additional weapons, costumes, and monsters. Post-release downloads also included ""Final Fantasy XIII" Lost Report", which offers a look back at "Final Fantasy XIII"s story through the perspective of non-playable characters from the game, and three downloadable scenarios for other characters: "Perpetual Battlefield", which reveals Snow's fate; "Heads or Tails", which shows how Sazh came to 500 AF Academia; and "Requiem of the Goddess", which shows Lightning's struggle against Caius and explains how she became crystallized in the main story's ending.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: During its first week of release in Japan, "Final Fantasy XIII-2" sold 524,000 copies, and the PlayStation 3 version was the highest-selling game for the system. The Xbox 360 version only reached 48th. Although high, initial sales were notably lower than what they were for the game's predecessor, which sold 1.5 million units in its first week. By the end of the year, the game had sold over 697,000 units, and was the fifth-best selling game of 2011 in Japan. It was just below four handheld video games, making it the highest-selling home console game in Japan that year. In the United States, the game placed as the second-best selling game of February 2012, just below "". In the United Kingdom, "Final Fantasy XIII-2" was the best-selling game of February 2012. By January 2013, "Final Fantasy XIII-2" had sold 3.1 million copies worldwide. Approximately 400,000 further copies were registered on Steam by 2017, according to Steam Spy.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: "Final Fantasy XIII-2" received very favorable reviews from Japanese reviewers, getting perfect scores from the Japanese magazines "Famitsu" and "Dengeki PlayStation". "Famitsu" editor Ranbu Yoshida said that "it feels like a very different game from its predecessor" and that "it's easy to lose yourself in changing and redoing areas you've previously finished." Assistant editor Norihiro Fujiwara added that "the setting and presentation is fantastic, and the issues people brought up with the first game—its linearity, its lack of meaty gameplay—are a thing of the past. You're sucked into the game right from the beginning, and the story's very easy to get into." The game won the "Future Division" award at the 2011 Japan Game Awards and later won an "Award of Excellence" at the 2012 Japan Game Awards.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: Outside Japan, the game received mostly positive reviews, which primarily focused on the changes in the game from its predecessor. Reviewers generally praised the graphics. The "Edge" review described the environments as "entirely captivating" and said that the "visual and audio design is marvellous", and Kevin VanOrd of GameSpot praised the graphics as beautiful and visually diverse. Jeremy Parish of 1UP.com disagreed, however, saying that the art "represents a step back from the splendor of "Final Fantasy XIII"". The music received mixed reviews; Parish said that the music was great, applauding the unique styles, but Simon Parkin of Eurogamer felt that the music "suffers from a lack of coherent direction", and tracks often failed to match their scenes. Dale North of Destructoid felt that the soundtrack was "wonderfully varied and lots of fun" and predicted that "traditionalist" fans of "Final Fantasy" music would not like it as much because of the varied new styles.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: The gameplay was generally praised as well, with many reviewers noting the improvements in areas they saw as problems in the previous game. Parkin praised the game's "smart, engaging mechanics" and the "novel structure" of the gameplay. Joe Juba of "Game Informer" said that the changes to "Final Fantasy XIII"s battle system made it his favorite "Final Fantasy" battle system, and that the gameplay was "phenomenal". Ryan Clements of IGN felt that the gameplay was an improvement over "XIII"s, fixing many of its problems. Parish stated that "XIII-2" was an inversion of "XIII" in that the gameplay took precedence over the story. He described the battle system as "a joy" and said that the game was "never not fun". VanOrd agreed that the combat was fun, though he found it to be too easy. The "Edge" review, which was harsher on the game than most others, also found it to be too easy, which combined with what they saw as poor subquests and a lack of effort put in some regions made the gameplay uninteresting.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: The story of the game received poor to mixed reviews. Parish felt that it was confusing and inessential to the game, while Juba said that it was "a disaster" which "screws up at almost every turn", overshadowing the game's good points. Parkin felt that the characters were weak and the story was not engaging, and Clements said that the story was insubstantial, which he found particularly disappointing as most "Final Fantasy" games focused heavily on their story. VanOrd was less negative towards the characters and story than most others, but still described the characters as good, but not great. He felt the game focused too much on the less interesting characters of Noel and Serah over Lightning and Caius, and said that the story was "semi-coherent" and missed several emotional notes, particularly in the first half of the game.


title: Final Fantasy XIII-2

text: Hints and rumors began circulating about a sequel to "Final Fantasy XIII-2" as early as December 2011, when Square Enix registered the "Final Fantasy XIII-3" web domain. At the time, the company stated that it was simply a precaution and did not mean there was such a game. After the game was released with a "To be continued" ending, Square Enix said that the ending was chosen to prompt players to explore the alternative endings and remain ready for the coming DLC levels. However, after the release of what was stated to be the final piece of DLC, officials at Square Enix announced that they would be releasing future "Final Fantasy XIII"-related content. In late August 2012, a teaser site was unveiled in preparation for the "Final Fantasy" 25th Anniversary Event, titled "A Storm Gathers", promising a "new direction for the saga of key character Lightning". At the event, it was announced that the title for this game would be "", and that it would serve as the ending to the story of the main "Final Fantasy XIII" character, Lightning. It was released in 2013 in Japan and 2014 in the West.


title: Softonic.com

text: Softonic.com is a web portal based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was founded in June 1997 and is owned by Softonic International.


title: Softonic.com

text: Softonic started in 1996 as a file-oriented download service called Shareware Intercom, at Intercom Online (Grupo Intercom), a provider of Internet services in Cerdanyola del Vallès, near Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain). Files for the website originally came from the "Files Library Intercom BBS" at Intercom Online, using a "5-step semi-automated process", which was later greatly simplified. The company also offered monthly CDs of its software library for users tired of "having to wait for downloads to complete or pay exorbitant phone bills." In 1999, the service was described as having a "generosity of games, antivirus, education and the long, seductive etcetera." In 2000, the company became independent under the name Softonic. In 2004, Softonic was made available in German, and in 2005, English. Initially the service was oriented only to downloads of DOS and Windows software, but it evolved to offer software downloads for Mac and mobile platforms.


title: Softonic.com

text: Softonic was listed as the "Best place to work in Spain (100–250 employees)" in an annual study by the Great Place to Work Institute from 2009–2011, and as second-best in 2008. In 2009 and 2011, the site was listed as having the most unique visitor traffic in Spain by audit bureau OJD Interactiva.


title: Softonic.com

text: At the end of 2014, Softonic announced that a headcount reduction procedure would be carried out as a cost-cutting measure, allegedly due to financial and organizational reasons. In December, the company formalized the dismissal of 156 employees, against the initial estimation of 207.


title: Softonic.com

text: In February 2015, Softonic announced that industry veteran and Download.com co-founder Scott Arpajian had been appointed as CEO of Softonic, replacing Founder Tomás Diago.


title: Softonic.com

text: In May 2017, the company announced that it had hired international executive Sophie Bernard as Vice President of Strategy.


title: Softonic.com

text: Softonic acquired FileHippo; the FileHippo home page states "Softonic International, S.A. holds the license to use the name and logo of Filehippo".


title: Softonic.com

text: Softonic's "Softonic Downloader" was described by the company's CEO as having "facilitated bad behaviour amongst third party vendors which ended up harming the user" due to malicious links impersonating as the downloader itself. In March 2015, Softonic announced it was discontinuing the Downloader as part of a move to "regain the trust of users".


title: One Times Square

text: One Times Square (also known as 1475 Broadway, the New York Times Building, the New York Times Tower, or simply as the Times Tower) is a 25-story, skyscraper on Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz in the neo-Gothic style, the tower was originally built in 1903–1904 as the headquarters of "The New York Times". It takes up the city block bounded by Seventh Avenue, 42nd Street, Broadway, and 43rd Street. The building's design has been heavily modified throughout the years, and all of its original architectural detail has since been removed. One Times Square's primary design features are the advertising billboards on its facade, added in the 1990s. Due to the large amount of revenue generated by its signage, One Times Square is one of the most valuable advertising locations in the world.


title: One Times Square

text: The surrounding Longacre Square neighborhood was renamed "Times Square" during the tower's construction, and "The New York Times" moved into the tower in January 1905. Eight years later, the paper's offices moved to 229 West 43rd Street. One Times Square remained a major focal point of the area due to its annual New Year's Eve "ball drop" festivities and the introduction of a large lighted news ticker near street-level in 1928. The Times sold the building to Douglas Leigh in 1961. Allied Chemical then bought the building in 1963 and renovated it as a showroom. Alex M. Parker took a long-term lease for the entire building in October 1973, buying it two years later. One Times Square was then sold multiple times in the 1980s and continued to serve as an office building.


title: One Times Square

text: Lehman Brothers acquired the building in 1995, adding billboards to take advantage of its prime location within Times Square. Jamestown L.P. has owned the building since 1997. In 2017, as part of One Times Square's redevelopment, plans were announced to construct a new Times Square museum, observation deck, and a new entrance to the Times Square–42nd Street subway station. Jamestown started renovating the building at a cost of $500 million in 2022.


title: One Times Square

text: One Times Square is at the southern end of Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It takes up the city block bounded by Seventh Avenue to the west, 42nd Street to the south, Broadway to the east, and 43rd Street to the north. The land lot is trapezoidal and covers . The full-block site has a frontage of to the west, to the south, to the east, and to the north. The shape of the site arises from Broadway's diagonal alignment relative to the Manhattan street grid. The building's address was originally 1475 Broadway, but it was changed to 1 Times Square in 1966. The current address is a vanity address assigned by the government of New York City. The addresses around Times Square are not assigned in any particular order; for example, 2 Times Square is several blocks away from 1 Times Square.


title: One Times Square

text: Nearby buildings include 1501 Broadway to the north, 1500 Broadway to the northeast, 4 Times Square to the east, The Knickerbocker Hotel to the southeast, the Times Square Tower to the south, 5 Times Square to the southwest, and 3 Times Square to the west. An entrance to the New York City Subway's Times Square–42nd Street station, served by the , is directly adjacent to the building. There is also an entrance to the 42nd Street–Bryant Park/Fifth Avenue station, served by the , less than a block east.


title: One Times Square

text: Prior to the construction of what is now One Times Square, the northern end of the site had been part of the estate of Amos R. Eno, which had sold the site in 1901 to the Subway Realty Company. The southern end contained the Pabst Hotel, which had been built on land leased from Charles Thorley. The southeast corner of the building originally contained a plaque containing Thorley's name, as he had required that his name be placed on any building that was constructed on the site. The New York Times Company bought the site in 1927, four years after Thorley died, but the plaques remained until 1963.


title: One Times Square

text: Newspaper publisher Adolph Ochs purchased "The New York Times" in 1896. The paper was then headquartered at 41 Park Row in Lower Manhattan, within the city's Newspaper Row. The "Times" expanded greatly under Ochs's leadership, prompting him to acquire land for a new headquarters in Longacre Square. In August 1902, Ochs purchased the former Eno ground from the Subway Realty Company and obtained a long-term lease from Charles Thorley on the ground under the Pabst Hotel. At the time, the first line of the New York City Subway was being constructed through the site, spurring commercial growth in the surrounding neighborhood. In deciding to relocate to Longacre Square, the "Times" cited the fact that the New York City Subway's Times Square station would be directly adjacent to the new building, thus allowing the paper to expand its circulation.


title: One Times Square

text: In mid-1902, the "Times" hired architect Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz to draw up plans for its new building. Site clearing began in December 1902 and was completed within two months. Afterward, workers began constructing the building's concrete, brickwork, and ironwork in mid-1903. By the end of the year, the steel frame was being constructed at a rate of three stories per week. Ochs's 11-year-old daughter Iphigene Bertha Ochs laid the building's cornerstone on January 18, 1904, after the steel frame had been completed. Ochs successfully persuaded the New York City Board of Aldermen to rename the surrounding area after the newspaper, and Longacre Square was renamed Times Square in April 1904. Workers were installing interior finishes by the next month. Construction was temporarily halted that August when seventeen workers' unions went on strike. According to the "Times", the building's completion was delayed by 299 days due to various strikes during the project, as well as inclement weather.


title: One Times Square

text: Prior to the building's completion, in November 1904, the "Times" used searchlights on the building's facade to display the results of the 1904 United States presidential election. The "Times" indicated which candidate won by flashing searchlights on different sides of the building. "The New York Times" officially moved into the building on January 1, 1905. To help promote the new headquarters, the "Times" held a New Year's Eve event on December 31, 1904, welcoming the year 1905 with a fireworks display set off from the roof of the building at midnight. The event was a success, attracting 200,000 spectators, and was repeated annually through 1907. Hegeman & Company leased most of the ground level in mid-1905, opening a drug store within that space. The same year, the paper started operating a stereopticon machine on the north side of the building, displaying news bulletins. In addition, the "Times" experimented with transmitting music and telephone messages to the top of its tower in 1907.


title: One Times Square

text: In 1908, Ochs replaced the fireworks display with the lowering of a lit ball down the building's flagpole at midnight, patterned off the use of time balls to indicate a certain time of day. By then, the New York City government had banned the fireworks displays, which were detonated directly over the crowd and, thus, posed a danger. The "ball drop" was directly inspired by a time ball atop the Western Union Telegraph Building in lower Manhattan. By then, Times Square had become a popular venue for New Year's celebrations. The ball drop is still held atop One Times Square, attracting an average of one million spectators yearly. The Times Tower was also used for telegraph experiments, and its searchlights continued to display election results, including those for the 1908 United States presidential election. The building's roof attracted visitors such as French author Pierre Loti, who called the Times Tower "one of the boldest" of New York City's skyscrapers, and Jamalul Kiram II, the Sultan of Sulu.


title: One Times Square

text: There was so little space on the Times Tower site that its mechanical basements had to descend as much as . By the early 1910s, the Times Square area had become densely developed with restaurants, theaters, hotels, and office buildings. Despite the dearth of space, a "Times" booklet said: "It did not occur to anyone to suggest that the ["Times"] should desert Times Square." On February 2, 1913, eight years after it moved to One Times Square, the "Times" moved its corporate headquarters to 229 West 43rd Street, where it remained until 2007. Most of the "Times" operations quickly moved to the annex, except for the publishing and subscription divisions. The "Times" retained ownership of the Times Tower and leased out the former space there. The building continued to be popularly known as the Times Tower for half a century.


title: One Times Square

text: The original Times Square Ball above the Times Tower was replaced following the 1919–1920 New Year's celebrations. A neon beacon was installed atop the Times Tower's roof in September 1928. An electromechanical "" news ticker, colloquially known as the "zipper", started operating near the base of the building on November 6, 1928, after eight weeks of installation. The zipper originally consisted of 14,800 light bulbs, with the display controlled by a chain conveyor system inside the building; individual letter elements (a form of movable type) were loaded into frames to spell out news headlines. As the frames moved along the conveyor, the letters themselves triggered electrical contacts which lit the external bulbs (the zipper was later upgraded to use modern LED technology). The first headline displayed on the zipper announced Herbert Hoover's victory in that day's presidential election. The zipper was used to display other major news headlines of the era, and its content later expanded to include sports and weather updates as well.


title: One Times Square

text: During the 1940s, the building's basement contained a shooting range occupied by the Forty-third Street Rifle Club. Due to restrictions imposed during World War II, the Times Tower's zipper was powered down in May 1942, marking the first time since its installation that the zipper had shut down. The tower's lights were darkened for the same reason. Consequently, the 1942 New York state election was the first since 1904 for which the tower's lights did not broadcast any election results. The "Times" reactivated the building's zipper in October 1943, but, less than two weeks later, the sign was again deactivated to reduce electricity usage. The sign operated intermittently until the end of World War II, when it again ran continuously. On the evening of August 14, 1945, the building's zipper announced Japan's surrender in World War II to a packed crowd in Times Square.


title: One Times Square

text: Ahead of the 1952 United States presidential election, the "Times" temporarily installed a electronic sign on the 4th through 11th stories of the northern facade, displaying each candidate's electoral vote count. The sign was reinstalled on the Times Tower during the 1956 United States presidential election. The tower's ball was also replaced after the 1954–1955 celebrations. The New York Community Trust installed a plaque outside the building in 1957, designating it as a point of interest and an unofficial "landmark".


title: One Times Square

text: The "Times" sold the building to advertising executive and sign designer Douglas Leigh in 1961. According to "The Wall Street Journal", Leigh had attempted to purchase the Times Tower for 25 years before he succeeded. At the time, there were 110 tenants in the building; the "Times" only operated the zipper as well as a classified advertising office at ground level. Leigh had planned to construct an exhibition hall within the building. One of the Times Tower's subbasement levels caught fire in November 1961, killing three people and injuring 24 others; investigators later determined that the fire had been caused by "careless smoking". The building's zipper was deactivated in December 1962 due to the 1962–1963 New York City newspaper strike, and it did not operate for more than two years.


title: One Times Square

text: Leigh sold the building in April 1963 to Allied Chemical, which planned to renovate the building and use it as a sales headquarters and showroom. The first three stories would be re-clad in glass and serve as a showroom for nylon products, and the interior would be completely overhauled. Benjamin Bailyn of architectural firm Smith Haines Lundberg Waehler designed the renovation. Due to recent changes to New York City zoning laws, it was more economically efficient to renovate the Times Tower than to demolish it, as a new building on the site could not be as tall. Work began in October 1963, and the Times Tower's original cornerstone was unsealed in a ceremony in March 1964. Allied Chemical stripped the building to its steel frame, replacing the intricate granite and terracotta facade with marble panels as part of a $10 million renovation. The first panel of the new facade crashed to the ground while it was being installed in August 1964. The modifications occurred one year before the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission gained the power to protect buildings as official landmarks, leading architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable to express opposition to the renovation. Huxtable praised the building as "radical and conservative at the same time", saying that it was full of "vintage structural details".


title: One Times Square

text: Allied Chemical reactivated the news zipper on the building's facade in March 1965 as part of a joint venture with "Life" magazine. Allied Chemical turned on four electric signs atop the tower in July 1965. The Times Tower was officially rededicated that December as the Allied Chemical Tower. Shortly after the renovation was completed, Allied Chemical's nylon division had outgrown the space, and the building's elevator service was also reportedly unreliable. The Stouffer Foods Corporation also agreed to operate an English-themed restaurant on the 15th and 16th floors. The restaurant, known as Act I, opened in 1966. The United States Postal Service officially changed the building's address from 1475 Broadway to 1 Times Square in September 1966.


title: One Times Square

text: Allied Chemical announced in late 1972 that it had placed 1 Times Square for sale. By that time, the company no longer needed the surplus space in its namesake tower. Allied Chemical had relocated other workers to Morris Township, New Jersey, during early 1972, and it planned to move its nylon division into smaller space at the nearby 1411 Broadway. The firm wanted to sell the building outright at a minimum price of $7 million. It is unknown whether anyone submitted a bid to purchase the building, but Allied Chemical ultimately failed to sell it.


title: One Times Square

text: Alex M. Parker took a long-term lease for the entire building in October 1973, with an option to purchase the structure. Parker then renamed the building Expo America. He planned to convert 17 of the building's stories into an exhibition hall while also continuing to operate the Act I restaurant. Shortly after buying the building, Parker said: "It is my hope that the activity and excitement generated by Expo America will flow outward through the surrounding area, encouraging others to join in the effort to once again make Times Square a great area." In early 1974, Parker announced that the building's zipper would display only advertising and good news because "I've had it with bad news". According to Parker, it cost him $100,000 a year to operate the zipper. Reuters provided the headlines for the zipper.


title: One Times Square

text: Parker exercised his option to buy the building in 1975 at a cost of $6.25 million. He then hired the architectural firm of Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects to redesign the tower with a glass facade and sloping roof. Under Parker's plan, four stories would be added to the tower, and the facade would be replaced with panels of one-way glass. Parker also planned to host a competition to select a new name for the building. This plan was never carried out. Instead, Parker and mayor Abraham Beame officially reopened One Times Square as an exhibition center on March 2, 1976. Spectacolor Inc. installed a new zipper on the building's facade later that year. The zipper only operated for a short time before being deactivated entirely in 1977.


title: One Times Square

text: The City at 42nd Street Inc. proposed demolishing One Times Square in 1979 as part of a plan to redevelop a section of West 42nd Street near Times Square. Parker, who had not been consulted about the proposal, expressed his opposition by calling it "obscene". Another plan for the site, announced in 1981, called for renovating One Times Square into a "potential civic sculpture" with a brightly lit facade. In a plan presented to the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) in June 1981, architectural firm Cooper Eckstut proposed doubling the height of One Times Square's northern section. Parker had sold the building to the Swiss investment group Kemekod in February 1981. Kemekod sold the tower to TSNY Realty Corporation, an investment group led by Lawrence I. Linksman, in 1982 for $12 million. Linksman promised further renovations to the building, including the possibility of using its north face for signage displays.


title: One Times Square

text: As part of the 42nd Street Redevelopment Project, in 1983, architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee had planned to raze One Times Square and construct four new towers immediately surrounding the site. Park Tower Realty, which had been designated as the developer of these towers, offered to buy the building in November 1983. Park Tower planned to demolish the building and transfer the Times Square Ball to the tallest of the four new buildings. A month afterward, TSNY sued Park Tower to prevent the demolition. Allan J. Riley acquired the building in 1984 for $16.5 million, at which point the building was almost fully leased. Also in 1984, the Municipal Art Society held an architectural design competition for the site, attracting over 1,380 entrants from 15 nations. That December, the building's owner objected to the ESDC's plans to condemn the site. The city and state governments of New York created a six-member committee in 1985 to discuss the future of One Times Square.


title: One Times Square

text: Steven M. Israel and Gary Calmenson paid $18.1 million for the building in December 1985 and leased the building's ticker to local newspaper "Newsday" the next month. The ticker displayed headlines, advertising, and weather from 6 a.m. to midnight each day. Israel started converting on the lower stories into the Crossroads Fashion Center, a retail complex designed by Fernando Williams Associates. By then, Park Tower had begun promoting a plan to replace One Times Square with a seven-story building containing an "open staircase running up its middle and a waterfall running over rough stones at its base". City and state officials debated whether to acquire One Times Square through condemnation for several years, but they canceled these plans in 1988 after failing to reach an agreement.


title: One Times Square

text: By 1988, Israel had renovated the first two stories for $1 million. In addition, he converted the 11th floor into an amenity area for the building's tenants; the space contained production rooms, a reception area, and a screening room. At the time, the building was known as One Times Square Plaza. Israel and Calmenson refinanced the building in 1989 with a $30 million loan from French bank Banque Arabe Internationale d'Investissement (BAII), and Cofat & Partners bought an equity stake in the building. By then, the zipper was profitable, leading Israel to say: "We have blank exterior walls that are screaming out to be used." The building's owners negotiated to lease additional advertising space on the building to "Newsday", but the deal was canceled. Sony agreed to start operating a Jumbotron on the exterior of the tower in 1990; the Jumbotron was upgraded in March 1994.


title: One Times Square

text: BAII moved to foreclose on the property in 1991, prompting Israel and Calmenson to file for bankruptcy protection in March 1992. At the time, the building had 41 tenants but was half vacant. Israel wanted to avoid a foreclosure, as he would be liable for $2 million in taxes if the building were foreclosed upon. Rebecca Rawson was named as the receiver for the bankrupt property. Israel proposed reducing the building's first mortgage in 1993 to avoid foreclosure, but BAII opposed the plan. "Newsday" stopped operating the building's ticker on December 31, 1994, and declined to renew its lease, believing that it "[didn't] get very much out of that sign" financially. Publishing company Pearson PLC agreed to operate the zipper three days before "Newsday" lease expired, using the zipper for news, announcements, and advertisements of its own products.


title: One Times Square

text: Banque National de Paris (BNP) bought the building at a foreclosure auction in January 1995 for $25.2 million. The financial services firm Lehman Brothers acquired the building shortly afterward for $27.5 million. According to the "Times", Lehman Brothers had been "ridiculed" for buying the building at that price. Madame Tussauds, a subsidiary of Pearson PLC, had sought to lease space for a museum in One Times Square but could not reach an agreement with the new owner. Lehman Brothers felt that it would be economically inefficient to use the tower as an office building because it was so small, so the firm decided to market the tower as a location for advertising. The entire exterior of One Times Square above the ticker was modified to add a grid frame for mounting billboard signs. Dow Jones & Company started operating the zipper in June 1995, and Dow Jones replaced the zipper in mid-1997, donating part of the old zipper to the Museum of the City of New York.


title: One Times Square

text: Sony's Jumbotron operated until 1996. Alongside its use for advertising and news, it was also frequently used by the producers of the late-night talk show "Late Show with David Letterman", who could display a live feed from its studio on the screen as well. As a cost-saving measure, Sony declined to renew its lease of the space, leading to the subsequent removal of the Jumbotron in June 1996. Due to its frequent use by "Late Show", its producer Rob Burnett jokingly considered the removal of the Jumbotron to be "a sad, sad day for New York." The last office tenants moved out of the building in 1996, and the first electronic billboards were installed the same year. In October 1996, Warner Bros. agreed to lease the building and operate a retail store at the base. The complex would include a four-story restaurant on the roof. Warner Bros. hired Frank O. Gehry to design the store, and Gehry released his plans in early 1997. The proposal called for gutting the lowest eight stories and replacing the facade with a translucent wire mesh.


title: One Times Square

text: Lehman Brothers sold One Times Square in June 1997 to Jamestown L.P. for about $110 million, four times more than what Lehman Brothers had paid for the building just two years earlier. Sherwood Equities owned a minority stake in the building and was the leasing agent for the retail space. The Warner Bros. store then opened in April 1998, occupying on three stories. The store was known as "1 Toon Square", a reference to its address. In advance of the 1999–2000 New Year's celebrations, the ball atop One Times Square's roof was replaced once again. After a portion of the building's exterior signs collapsed in March 1999, the New York City Department of Buildings ordered that four of the building's billboards be removed.


title: One Times Square

text: Time Warner announced in mid-2001 that it would close the Warner Bros. store that October due to a decline in business. Time Warner continued to pay rent for the vacant retail space. In 2002, plans were announced for a 7-Eleven convenience store, the Times Square Brewery, and Two Boots Pizza in One Times Square. However, the planned 7-Eleven store was ultimately canceled. Jamestown then repaired 450 panels on the building's facade in the mid-2000s. During this project, one of the facade's panels fell to the ground in 2004, injuring two pedestrians.


title: One Times Square

text: Due to the building's small size, it only housed a single office tenant during the 2000s and 2010s: the production company in charge of the Times Square Ball drop. In early 2006, the lower floors were occupied by a pop-up store operated by J. C. Penney and known as "The J C. Penney Experience". The pharmacy chain Walgreens leased the entire building in 2007, paying $4 million yearly. The chain had previously operated a store in the building for four decades until 1970. Walgreens opened a new flagship store in the space in November 2008. As part of the store's opening, Gilmore Group designed a digital sign for the facade, constructed by D3 LED. The sign ran diagonally up the western and eastern elevations of the building and contained 12 million LEDs, surpassing the nearby Nasdaq MarketSite sign as the largest LED sign in Times Square. The sign operated 20 hours a day and advertised Walgreens's products.


title: One Times Square

text: In September 2017, Jamestown unveiled plans to use much of its vacant space. Under the proposal, a museum dedicated to the history of Times Square would be built on the 15th through 17th floors, and the 18th floor would contain a new observatory. At the time, the building's billboards had started to become dated because of the increasing popularity of interactive programming. The ground level would also be renovated to provide an expanded entrance to the New York City Subway's Times Square–42nd Street station, directly underneath the building. Work on the subway entrance was originally supposed to be completed in 2018, but the MTA did not start construction on the 42nd Street Shuttle reconstruction project until August 2019. As part of the redevelopment of One Times Square, a new staircase entrance with a glass canopy, as well as a new elevator entrance, would be built. The new $40 million station entrance, including the elevator, formally opened in May 2022.


title: One Times Square

text: Jamestown announced in January 2019 that it planned to renovate the building and lease the upper floors, which at the time were completely blocked by billboards. Jamestown also planned to either terminate Walgreens's lease or reduce the size of the pharmacy. "The Real Deal" magazine estimated that Jamestown was earning $23 million per year from the building's billboards. Later the same year, the individual billboard screens on the front of the tower were replaced by one Samsung LED display, with a resolution of 1312×7380 pixels. The installation of the screen necessitated the removal of the Zipper. The Walgreens store at the building's base had closed permanently by 2022.


title: One Times Square

text: Jamestown started renovating 1 Times Square in May 2022 at a cost of $500 million. To finance the project, Jamestown received a $425 million mortgage from JPMorgan Chase, a building loan of $88.7 million, and a project loan of $39.8 million. S9 Architecture designed the renovation, while AECOM and Tishman Construction were the general contractors. The advertising boards on the northern facade remained in place, but the advertisements on the other three facades were removed. The 1960s marble facade would be removed and replaced with a glass curtain wall. The structure would contain only one story of office space after it reopened; the museum would occupy six stories. Technology companies would be able to lease 12 stories for interactive attractions. The building's observation deck would be open year-round, and the Times Square Ball would drop several times a day throughout the year. Jamestown would also install a new elevator to the building's observation deck. The building would continue to display ads on its northern facade, and it would host New Year's Eve celebrations during the renovation, which was to be completed in 2024. The Durst Organization, which owned the neighboring 4 Times Square, sued the city's DOB in July 2022, claiming that the scaffolding around One Times Square would attract crime while worsening congestion on the sidewalk.


title: One Times Square

text: Eidlitz & McKenzie had originally designed One Times Square in the neo-Gothic style. This style was reportedly used because the irregular shape of the site prevented the architects from designing a neoclassical or neo-Renaissance building. The "Times" had described the edifice as being tall, measured from the deepest basement level to the pinnacle of the tower's flagpole. The actual height from street level to roofline was , making it the city's second tallest office building when it opened, after the Park Row Building. Without its tower, the "Times" Building only measured tall. David W. Dunlap of the "Times" wrote that, when the building was completed, it was in his employer's "self-interest to assert that building heights ought to be measured from the lowest level."


title: One Times Square

text: When the Times Tower opened, it contained an elaborately decorated facade of limestone and terracotta. The facade's articulation consisted of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column, namely a base, shaft, and capital. The facade contained several slightly projecting sections, which indicated the locations of steel columns in the building's superstructure. The southern portion of the building extended about back from 42nd Street and was taller than the northern portion. This increased the amount of rentable space, since the southern part of the site was wider. The plate glass used in the building weighed .


title: One Times Square

text: The first three stories were elaborately decorated and were clad entirely in cream-colored Indiana limestone, a material chosen for its durability. There were elaborately carved doorways on both Broadway and Seventh Avenue, as well as a horizontal band course of limestone above the third story. Some of the decoration on the lower levels was made of iron, including the ground-floor windows. The windows at the base were smaller than they normally would have been, thereby giving the impression of massiveness. The 4th through 12th stories, comprising the shaft, contained little decoration. These stories were clad in cream-colored brick, which was glazed to resemble the terracotta on the rest of the facade. The upper stories contained extremely ornate terracotta details such as brackets and cornices. There were ornamental ironwork window frames above the 12th story.


title: One Times Square

text: Above the 16th story, the roof of the northern section was made of wire glass. The trapezoidal "tower" above the southern half of the building was designed to resemble a square campanile. Each elevation of this tower contained one arched window flanked by smaller, single windows. Critics compared the tower's detail to that of Giotto's Campanile in Florence. Arthur G. Bein of "American Architect" magazine said: "The architect has been free to reproduce almost exactly Giotto's great machicolated cornice with perforated parapet above." Each corner of the tower contained projecting piers, designed in a manner that resembled turrets. Originally, Eidlitz had planned to build a dome atop the southern part of the building, but he scrapped these plans because of the difficulty in placing a circular dome above an irregular trapezoidal massing.


title: One Times Square

text: In 1965, the building's original facade was replaced with 420 concrete and marble panels. Each panel was made of a layer of precast concrete covered with a layer of white Vermont marble. Twenty of these panels measured and the other 400 panels measured . The rear of each panel was anchored to the building's superstructure. "Progressive Architecture" magazine criticized the renovation as "a face-lifting job of thorough-going blandness". All four elevations of the facade were covered with billboards in the 1990s. , the concrete-and-marble facade of the western, southern, and eastern elevations is being removed and replaced with glass panels.


title: One Times Square

text: The foundation of the building extended deep and was excavated to the underlying layer of bedrock. It is surrounded by waterproof retaining walls, which are backfilled with a mixture of loose stone and cement. The foundation itself consists of cast-steel footings, above which rise the building's steel columns. The footings each measure across, and their centers are spaced apart. Each steel footing is placed atop a heavy granite block measuring across and thick, which in turn rests directly on the underlying bedrock. Structural loads from the upper stories are carried down into the footings and then spread across the layer of bedrock, which carries a load of . The retaining walls of the foundation are made of red brick. On the eastern part of the site (where the underlying rock sloped upward), workers built a retaining wall with embedded I-beams, providing additional wind bracing.


title: One Times Square

text: The building contains three basement levels, the lowest of which is deep. The Times Square subway station encroaches on a portion of the first and second basement levels. The subway station itself is placed below ground and has a ceiling high. The pillars of the subway tunnel were covered in brick and were placed atop sound-dampening sand cushions, minimizing vibrations caused by passing subway trains. Part of the superstructure is cantilevered above the subway tunnel, since the city's Rapid Transit Commission forbade any obstructions in subway tunnel's right-of-way. The northern wall rests on a plate girder above the subway tunnel; at the time of construction, it was the heaviest girder in the world to be installed in an office building. This girder measures long and consists of a group of three I-beams, which collectively measure wide and high. Seven piers in the basement, each measuring high, carry the entire structural load of the upper levels; they are encased in Portland cement.


title: One Times Square

text: The superstructure contains two-story-tall sections of steel columns. At each story, the columns are connected horizontally by a grid of steel girders. On average, each girder measures long, and there are about 150 pieces of steel used on each story. The seven main structural columns are embedded within the walls on each story. Structural engineers Purdy and Henderson designed three systems of wind bracing for the building. The first system consists of the girders on each story, which are welded to the building's columns via gusset plates. The building also contains "X"-shaped diagonal bracing, placed within the partitions next to each of the elevator shafts. Between the individual elevator shafts is a system of knee bracing; it consists of diagonal steel bars shaped like a rotated "K", which extend downward from the centers of the horizontal girders. The structural steel frame carried a dead load of .


title: One Times Square

text: Originally, the spaces between the girders were spanned by flat arches made of hollow bricks, which were then covered with a layer of cement. Fireproof timber sleepers were then installed atop these flat arches, and a layer of fireproof wood was installed above these sleepers. The finished wooden floor was then installed above the layer of fireproof wood. The partition walls were constructed of square bricks, which were then finished in plaster. The building's elevator shafts were surrounded by walls made of fire-clay, which were then covered with a layer of tiled brick. The superstructure used of iron, brick, mortar, terracotta, limestone, masonry, and other materials.


title: One Times Square

text: Initially, the entrance on Broadway led to an elevator lobby with decorative pilasters, while the entrance on Seventh Avenue led to an ornamental staircase. The lobby contained a ceiling measuring high. The lowest part of the wall contained a marble wainscoting that measured high, while the upper portion of the wall was painted white. The top of the main hall contained a paneled cornice decorated with a shell motif. The floor was made of white mosaic. There were seven oak-framed revolving doors in the building: two at the Broadway entrance to the lobby, one at the 42nd Street entrance, and four leading to the subway station in the basement.


title: One Times Square

text: On the first basement level was a pedestrian arcade with several small stores, which ran from street level to the Times Square station's southbound platform. The arcade was closed in 1967 due to high crime, but an archway leading from the station to One Times Square's basement remained visible until the 2000s. The rest of the first basement contained storefronts and the "Times's" mailing department, while the second basement contained the mailing and repair departments. The third basement is larger than the other basement levels, extending underneath the sidewalk to the curb line on all sides. It covers an area of , three times as large as each of the office stories above. The third basement level contained the pressroom, which was connected via a freight elevator to the second basement. The southern section of the pressroom originally contained four printing presses. The pressroom was illuminated by areaways on 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue, which measured deep and contained glazed-brick cladding. These areaways, as well as the southbound platform of the Times Square station, were covered by glass skylights.


title: One Times Square

text: The first twelve stories above ground were rented out to other tenants, except for the "New York Times" publication office at ground level. The 13th through 21st stories contained various departments for "The New York Times". Each office was decorated with ornamental cornices and red-oak doors. Offices occupied the northernmost of the building, which was extremely narrow. In the southern half of the building, a hallway ran down the middle of each story, separating offices to the west and east. These hallways were decorated with white mosaic tile floors and marble wainscoting on the walls. The 16th story, used as a composing room, was the highest story in the northern section of the building. The top six stories, which contained the "Times's" editorial offices, had windows on all four sides. All offices were located within of a window, and the building was narrow enough that there were no light shafts to provide natural light to interior offices. When the building was completed, each office was illuminated by natural light for at least five hours every day.


title: One Times Square

text: The former electrical room in the tower's basement serves as a "vault" for the storage of items relating to New Year's Eve celebrations at Times Square, including the ball itself (prior to 2009, when it was replaced with a weatherproofed version that is displayed atop the tower year-round), spare parts, numeral signage and other memorabilia. A room near the top of the tower likewise contains the ball's electronics, including its lighting controller and winch.


title: One Times Square

text: Stairs and elevators were placed on the western side of the building, and there were restrooms on each story next to the stairs and elevators. When the building was constructed, it had seven elevators and over a hundred other motorized appliances, including printing presses, pumps, and fans. Of these, five elevators were for passengers and two were for freight. Two of the building's elevators (one passenger and one freight) ran from the basement to the top story, while the other elevators only ran to the 16th story. Although all the passenger elevators could travel at , one of these elevators could also be used to transport heavy equipment and could be slowed down to , thereby doubling its carrying capacity. The elevator cabs were originally copper cages with mirrors on each wall.


title: One Times Square

text: The building contained two boilers, which were each capable of . Steam risers distributed heat from the boilers to 542 radiators. Water from the New York City water supply system was drawn into the basement and filtered at a rate of per minute. The filtered water was then pumped up to the 23rd floor and distributed to other stories. In case of a fire, there was a water tank in the basement and two tanks on the 23rd floor. Three sewage pumps, with a combined capacity of , were used to pump wastewater out of the building. In addition, there was a gas pipe extending from the cellar to the 16th floor.


title: One Times Square

text: Outdoor air was drawn into an air-intake opening at street level and through air filters in the basement; the filtered air was then distributed to the offices. On the Seventh Avenue side of the building was a ventilation pipe, which faced the building's outer wall and was surrounded by the stairs, elevators, and restrooms on each floor. During the summer, a large electric fan pushed stale air upward through the ventilation pipe. The building also contained 2,400 electrical outlets and over 6,200 lamps. The offices were illuminated by 150 ornate chandeliers on the 2nd through 14th floors. There originally were of electrical wires and of electrical conduits in the building.


title: One Times Square

text: One Times Square's first electronic billboards were installed in 1996. A Cup Noodles billboard with steam effects was added to the front of the tower, later accompanied by an animated Budweiser sign. In October, a 55-foot video screen sponsored by ITT Corporation was introduced to the top of the tower, which would feature video advertisements and community service announcements. In December 1996, a Panasonic display operated by NBC known as "Astrovision" was introduced as a replacement for Sony's Jumbotron at the base of the tower.


title: One Times Square

text: Filings related to the building's 1997 sale revealed that the billboards on the tower had been generating a net revenue of $7 million yearly, representing a 300% profit. Sherwood Equities president Brian Turner estimated in 2005 that over 200 million people saw the Times Square Ball drop at the building every year. With growing tourism and high traffic in the Times Square area (with a yearly average of over 100 million pedestriansalongside its prominence in media coverage of New Year's festivities, seen by a wide audience yearly), annual revenue from the signs grew to over $23 million by the year 2012rivaling London's Piccadilly Circus as the most valuable public advertising space in the world.


title: One Times Square

text: From 1996 to 2006, Nissin Foods operated a Cup Noodles billboard with smoke effects (an effect that had also been used by other Times Square billboards, such as the Camel Cigarettes sign). The Cup Noodles billboard was replaced in 2006 by a General Motors billboard featuring a Chevrolet branded clock. Due to cutbacks resulting from GM's bankruptcy and re-organization, the Chevrolet Clock was removed in 2009 and eventually replaced by a Kia Motors advertisement billboard. This billboard was itself replaced in 2010 by a Dunkin' Donuts display.


title: One Times Square

text: In 1998, Discover Card replaced ITT Corporation as the operator and sponsor of the topmost screen on One Times Square as part of a ten-year deal. The deal came alongside the announcement that Discover Card would be an official sponsor of Times Square's 1999–2000 festivities.


title: One Times Square

text: News Corporation (later renamed 21st Century Fox) replaced NBC as the operator and sponsor of the Astrovision screen in 2006. Sony returned to One Times Square in 2010, replacing the News Corp. Panasonic screen with a new high-definition LED display.


title: One Times Square

text: In December 2007, Toshiba took over sponsorship of the top-most screen of One Times Square from Discover Card in a 10-year lease. The screen displayed not only Toshiba products but also videos about tourism in Japan. In 2008, upgrades to the upper portion of One Times Square commenced, including the installation of new Toshiba high-definition LED displays (known as "ToshibaVision"), and the redesign of its roof to accommodate a larger New Year's Eve ball, which became a year-round fixture of the building beginning in 2009. Toshiba announced that it would end its One Times Square sponsorship in early 2018, citing ongoing cost-cutting measures.


title: One Canada Square

text: One Canada Square is a skyscraper in Canary Wharf, London. It was completed in 1991 and is the third tallest building in the United Kingdom at above ground level containing 50 storeys.


title: One Canada Square

text: One Canada Square was designed by César Pelli with Adamson Associates and Frederick Gibberd Coombes. The building is clad with stainless steel. One of the predominant features of the building is the pyramid roof, which contains a flashing aircraft warning light, a rare feature for buildings in the United Kingdom. The distinctive pyramid pinnacle is above sea level.


title: One Canada Square

text: One Canada Square is primarily used for offices, though there are some retail units on the lower ground floor. There is no observation floor. It is a prestigious location for offices and as of October 2017 was completely let. The building is recognised as a London landmark, and it has gained much attention through film, television, and other media as one of the tallest buildings in the United Kingdom.


title: One Canada Square

text: The original plans for a business district on Canary Wharf came from G Ware Travelstead. He proposed three 260 m (850 ft) towers. Travelstead was unable to fund the project, so the plans were sold to Olympia & York in 1987. Olympia & York grouped all three towers into an area known as Docklands Square, and the main tower was designated DS7 during planning. Docklands Square was later renamed Winston Square before finally being renamed as Canada Square.


title: One Canada Square

text: The architects chosen to design One Canada Square were César Pelli & Associates, Adamson Associates, and Frederick Gibberd Coombes & Partners. They designed the tower with a similar shape to 200 Vesey Street (formerly Three World Financial Center), New York City, which was also developed by Olympia & York and designed by Argentine architect César Pelli. The shape was also made reminiscent of "Big Ben". Olympia & York wanted to clad One Canada Square in stone, just like the Brookfield Place (New York City) buildings, but the architects first wanted to use aluminium for its low density, before insisting on steel to reflect Britain's heritage as an industrial nation. The final steel clad chosen was Patten Hyclad Cambric-finish stainless-steel.


title: One Canada Square

text: ""We studied the cladding material carefully and chose stainless steel with a linen finish because it seemed to fit the atmosphere of London.""


title: One Canada Square

text: One Canada Square was originally designed to be high at 55 storeys, but that penetrated the permitted projection height of the flight obstruction area of the airport approach district to London City Airport, but this was extended to a height of above kerb level in consideration of the fact that One Canada Square was on the external zone of the airport approach. To comply with air traffic safety regulations, the architects took five floors off the tower. The final height of was permitted, otherwise, the developers would have had to dismantle what was necessary to fit the height restriction. After losing five floors, Olympia & York insisted the other floors had to make up the lost floor space by increasing mass to the remaining floor space which created a tower that was not as slim as Pelli desired. Pelli and the other architects proposed alternatives, such as building more floors below ground and creating an extension of the tower into Docklands Square, which were similar ideas based upon previous Olympia & York buildings, though the ideas were rejected as it did not fit the basis of prime office space.


title: One Canada Square

text: The design of the tower received a fair share of criticism. According to César Pelli, the most damaging criticism came from Prince Charles, who said on national television, "I personally would go mad if I had to work in a place like that". Other criticisms came from former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who said that the building was "not quite stunning".


title: One Canada Square

text: Construction on the tower began in 1988. Construction was given to Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons in association with EllisDon of Toronto, but they were slow at building the tower, partly due to building workers going on strike in the summer of 1989, so Lehrer McGovern took over. Lehrer McGovern contracted out most of the work to Balfour Beatty because the Canary Wharf Tower was a difficult building to build. In total, about 27,500 metric tonnes of British steel and 500,000 bolts were used during construction. Construction also involved building a huge cofferdam to seal construction from water. It also involved driving 222 piles into the ground at 23 metres deep. Also, a 4-metre thick concrete raft was sunk into the dock to act as anchor.


title: One Canada Square

text: By June 1990, the tower had overtaken Tower 42 (previously known as the NatWest Tower), becoming the tallest building in the United Kingdom.


title: One Canada Square

text: On 8 November 1990, the tower was topped out when the top piece of the pyramid roof was put in place by crane. The celebration was attended by many famous architects, recognised engineers and political leaders. Amongst them were César Pelli, Brian Mulroney, Peter Rice, Man-Chung Tang, and Margaret Thatcher. Paul Reichmann, the owner of Olympia & York gave credit to Pelli for his building design as "this inauguration symbolises the spirit with which buildings can be achieved". Margaret Thatcher told the distinguished audience that the tower can become a "national recognised landmark".


title: One Canada Square

text: In August 1991, One Canada Square was completed and open for business. His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh officially opened One Canada Square on the morning of 26 August 1991, and unveiled a commemorative plaque at the entrance to the building. Hundreds of construction workers attended the opening ceremony. The Duke of Edinburgh


title: One Canada Square

text: addressed some 800 invited guests, many of whom had been involved in the project. He spoke of the "large, airy space and clean, efficient office layout", as he declared the building ready for business. The attendees heard a specially-commissioned piece of music performed by a 30-strong choir. Paul Reichmann, Chairman of Olympia & York said:


title: One Canada Square

text: ""The Canary Wharf Tower marks the start of a new beginning for Canary Wharf, for London, and for the United Kingdom. It is by any standard a triumph of ambition, commitment and collaboration. It will breathe life into Canary Wharf, allowing us to continue our transformation of the rest of the wharf, and will put Canary Wharf at the leading edge of real estate.""


title: One Canada Square

text: The majority of the tower was empty after opening because most tenants had not moved in yet and there was a global recession. To brighten up the tower, lights and lasers were installed during the Christmas celebrations of 1991.


title: One Canada Square

text: In 2009, the building was extended with Park Pavilion, a two-story glass structure built on the east side of the building, designed by César Pelli and Koetter Kim. The extension replaced the stainless steel columns, car parking spaces and road leading to Canada Square. The extension was made to create more retail space at street level, where five tenants were chosen to occupy the space: four restaurants and Lloyds Bank. The extension's roof terrace is open to diners and contains a green roof having sedum moss.


title: One Canada Square

text: The name given to the building by the developers is 'One Canada Square', but it is often incorrectly called 'Canary Wharf Tower' or simply 'Canary Wharf'.


title: One Canada Square

text: The pyramid roof is an important feature of the building, enclosing a maintenance plant and housing facilities for water supply and window washing, and an aircraft warning beacon. The pyramid itself is 40 metres high


title: One Canada Square

text: and 30 metres square at the base. It is made from stainless steel and is held together by 100,000 nuts and bolts, with a weight of over 100 tons. A louvre access door opens to allow a shining beacon to identify the building to passing aircraft.


title: One Canada Square

text: ""The pyramidal form makes a three-dimensional building of what would otherwise be just folded planes. It also strengthens the Axis Mundi, the vertical line that goes through skyscrapers and connects Heaven with Earth. This connection has been recognised in many cultures for several centuries now.""