Hearst Tower (Manhattan) architect Norman Foster
Architecture
The original six-story structure, known as the Hearst Magazine Building or the International Magazine Building, was designed by architect Joseph Urban and architecture firm George B. Post & Sons. Completed in 1928 and intended as the base of a future tower, the Hearst Magazine Building was designed in an early form of the Art Deco style. Henry Kreis designed six sculptural groups at the third story. The Hearst Magazine Building is the only survivor of an unbuilt entertainment complex that its developer, Hearst Communications founder William Randolph Hearst, had envisioned for Columbus Circle in the early 20th century. The tower, designed by Norman Foster, was completed in 2006, almost eight decades after the base was built. The Hearst Corporation and Tishman Speyer developed the tower, while WSP Global was the structural engineer and Turner Construction was the main contractor.The two sections of the Hearst Tower are a combined 597 feet (182 m) tall, with forty-six stories above ground. The base occupies nearly the whole lot and originally contained floors arranged in a "U" shape, flanking a courtyard to the west. Along much of the base, the third through sixth stories are slightly set back from the lowest two floors. The original building's roof was 70 feet (21 m) above ground. The tower stories are more deeply set back from the lowest six floors on the north, east, and south sides. The tower contains a smaller footprint of 160 by 120 feet (49 by 37 m), the longer dimension extending from east to west. The setbacks above the sixth floor contain a skylight 40 feet (12 m) wide.The Hearst Tower has 856,000 square feet (79,500 m2) of office space. According to the New York City Department of City Planning, the building has a gross floor area of 703,796 square feet (65,384.8 m2). The tower received a zoning bonus that enabled its maximum floor area to be expanded by six floors or 120,000 square feet (11,000 m2), a twenty percent increase from the previous maximum allowed floor area of 600,000 square feet (56,000 m2). In exchange, the Hearst Corporation agreed to improve access to the subway station directly underneath, adding three elevators and reconfiguring the subway station's circulation areas. Without the zoning amendment, the Hearst Corporation might have had to pay up to $10 million for additional air rights, as the company had already utilized all the unused air rights above the Hearst Magazine Building.
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