The CBS Building is the first reinforced concrete office tower in New York City. It is also the first instance for the economic use of this material in this type of building which, in the past has traditionally been built of steel. The architectural concept of the building made it eminently suitable for the use of reinforced concrete, and this together with the application of advanced analytical methods resulted in an economical structural system.

The structure is essentially supported on reinforced concrete bearing walls of the interior core and on a series of exterior columns which are spaced ten feet on center. Between these two supporting elements, the floor slab consists of a reinforced concrete joist system with predetermined areas of one way and two way action in the neighborhood of the corners. This analysis was executed by means of a high speed electronic computer which permitted the precise and economical distribution of the reinforcing steel and also permitted a determination of the areas in which one way or two way action of the plate was the most favorable.

Due to the relative slenderness of the tower, the design of the wind bracing system required special attention. A substantial percentage of wind shear is resisted by the bearing walls in the core, but an important part of the wind is transferred to the foundation through the closely spaced exterior columns, which act in the manner of shear walls. This use of the columns induces torsion in the floor slab itself and special stirrup reinforcing for this purpose was provided.

While the overall cross section of the columns remains constant, the effective cross section is gradually reduced towards the upper floors of the building

and the space gained in this manner is used to accommodate the down feed
duct system which decreases in size from the top down, leading
to an interesting integration of structural and mechanical components of
the structure. The building is located over a subway tunnel, which cuts
diagonally across the site, and the major portion of the core and some
parts of the exterior columns are supported on heavy and extremely rigid
steel girders bridging over the subway tunnels.

PW:dek

November 1, 1962.

ARCHITECTURAL & ENGINEERING

NEWS

July 27, 1962

Mr. John Dinkeloo
Eero Saarinen & Associates
Hamden, Connecticut

Dear Mr. Dinkeloo:

ARCHITECTURAL & ENGINEERING NEWS would be extremely interested in publishing a construction stage technical report on the CBS Building in New York City. This would concentrate on the structural, mechanical and electrical engineering aspects of the building, with a few references to materials used.

I do not feel that this need conflict with any later publishing plans you may have for the building after it is completed, because of the time factor and because we would not be showing any view of the building in its finished state.

I do hope you will look upon the idea with favor, and I shall look forward very much to hearing from you on this.

SAK:muf

Hagan Publishing Corporation • 500 Bloomfield Avenue • Montclair, New Jersey • 746-5100

June 8, 1962

Mr. Kidder Menda
Director of Public Relations
Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc.
683 Madison Avenue
New York 22, New York

Dear Kidder:

I am sending you a set of the pictures which were taken at the April 26th meeting here. I think they are marvelous pictures in terms of illuminating personalities and subtle relationships, don't you? The boy who took them, John Hill, is teaching photography at Yale and this sort of thing is his forte. It occurs to me that we might use him from time to time on the book for just such penetrating-into-people pictures.

What shall we do about these? We would like to have a set for ourselves. And it occurred to John Dinkeloo that Paley and Stanton might like a few copies. Shall we order a set for you for the book and some prints for Paley and Stanton? Or will you take care of those orders? I suppose we ought to have some system for these things.

I am told there was a dramatic fire on the site the other day. I hope that your faithful camera and cameraman recorded it. Also, that some one got some shots last Tuesday. There was one building, partly demolished, which made a handsome silhouette. It was also good in color; one exposed wall was a pistachio green. The helmeted demolition crew looked like figures in a sculptural frieze against it.

March 29, 1962

Mr. H. Mc. G. Dunnett
Gavin Starey Industrial
Liaison Ltd.
62 Fleet Street
London EC4, England

Dear Mr. H. Mc. G. Dunnett:

The picture of the C.B.S. Building model by Hero Saarinen
Associates was one of a series made for the Columbia Broadcast-
ing System for which that organization purchased publicity
rights. Accordingly you may feel free to use it in the book
you describe if our credit appears with it.

I am sure that Mr. E. K. Meade, Jr., Vice President of C.B.S.
at 485 Madison Avenue, New York City, and the Saarinen office
would like to see the finished book and your sending each of
them a copy would be appreciated.

BS/kob
bcc: Mrs. E. Saarinen
Mr. Meade

from:

COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC.
485 Madison Avenue, New York 22, N.Y.
Plaza 1-2345

Hold for Release:

Sunday, February 18, 1962

CBS SKYSCRAPER PLANS ANNOUNCED

Plans for a 36-story CBS headquarters building in New York were announced today by William S. Paley, Chairman, and Frank Stanton, President, Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc.

The CBS building was designed by Eero Saarinen who completed the plans shortly before his sudden death September 1, 1961. This was his first and only skyscraper, and as his plans neared completion he wrote, "Its beauty will be, I believe, that it will be the simplest skyscraper statement in New York."

The CBS headquarters building will occupy the east side block-front of the Avenue of the Americas between 52 and 53 Streets. Express-ing the architect's conviction that a skyscraper should be "a soaring thing," the building will be a rectangular, free-standing, granite clad, sheer tower rising 491 feet. It will be centered on a spacious, granite paved plaza which will be slightly lower than street level. The tower will occupy 5/8 per cent of the site; the remaining 3/8 per cent will be open plaza on all four sides.

The verticality of the tower is accented by graceful, triangular piers which thrust from the plaza upward to support the building on all four sides. The triangular structural columns also house wiring, heating, air conditioning ducts, and, in the words of the architects, "keep glass areas to a desirable minimum. In addition, they will provide a changing relief of granite and glass with sculptured surfaces as one moves around the building."

(More)

Columbia Broadcasting System ...2

Mr. Paley and Dr. Stanton in their joint announcement said, "To be able to give substance to Eero Saarinen's imaginative and dramatic plans is a great source of pride to us. In our view this design gives expression to the worlds of communications and the arts of which CBS is so vitally a part. Aesthetically this building is most exciting. Architecturally it is unlike any building yet to appear in America or abroad."

The CBS building is scheduled for completion in 1964. The new structure will be one of the tallest reinforced concrete buildings in the country. Its facade will be of dark granite. This color, Mr. Saarinen pointed out in his concept of the building, will convey a sense of permanence, dignity and strength -- a "permanent look." It will also stand out in its surroundings of metal-paneled skyscrapers.

The building's vertical effect will be emphasized by the absence of entrances on the Avenue of the Americas; entrances will be on 52 and 53 Streets.

The CBS building will be the first skyscraper to be constructed under the newly revised New York zoning laws.

Among outstanding buildings designed by Eero Saarinen and Associates are the U.S. Embassies in Oslo and London, the General Motors Technical Center, the Kresge Auditorium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Dulles International Airport, the TWA terminal at Idlewild, and the Lincoln Center Vivian Beaumont Theater.

When Mr. Saarinen commenced work on the CBS skyscraper project he commented, "I am excited. The challenge here is a form that expresses the creative, dynamic spirit of electronic communications. The subject is not tame."

(More)

Columbia Broadcasting System ...3

The CBS headquarters building will be an impressive addition to the complex of rising skyscrapers on Manhattan's West Side, which now includes such buildings as Time and Life, Equitable Life Assurance Society, and the coming New York Hilton Hotel.

The structure will contain more than 800,000 square feet of floor space. CBS, which has quadrupled its business during the last ten years, will occupy the major portion of the building. Six of its seven operating divisions will have offices in the new headquarters: CBS International, CBS News, CBS Radio, CBS Television Network, CBS Television Stations and Columbia Records. Several floors will be leased to other tenants.

The appointment of George A. Fuller Company as General Contractors was also announced. This Company has built many of New York's prominent skyscrapers, including the Seagram, First National City Bank, Time and Life, Union Carbide, and Lever House buildings.

Last fall CBS announced another major construction project: the CBS Production Center on Eleventh Avenue between 56 and 57 Streets. This $14½ million project will house studios and related facilities of the CBS Television Network, the CBS Radio Network, CBS News and WCBS-TV.

* * *

pa

PROGRESSIVE ARCHITECTURE

430 PARK AVENUE, NEW YORK 22, N.Y.

MURRAY HILL 8-8600

July 26, 1961

Eero Saarinen
1300 North Woodward
Birmingham, Michigan

Dear Eero:

I understand your unwillingness to work on a major story at this time. I must admit, however, that I am pessimistic about your finding more time after you have moved to New Haven. I am also sad about the possibility that your present projects will be published in dribbles and lose the major impact that they might have.

Since this will undoubtedly happen, and I don't want to lose out, could you tell me when it will be possible to publish something definitive on CBS. And how about the church of which I saw the handsome model. And the Athens airport? I know that the Yale colleges are rising -- when will it be reasonable to show them? And finally, we understand from Mayor Lee that you are doing an important high school in New Haven. Can anything be released on this as a project at the present time?

I had a good visit with Kent Cooper and went out to see Dulles last week. It is certainly an exciting construction at this stage. It should be a handsome building. We are figuring ways and means on the zoning story and you will undoubtedly hear from me directly or through Cooper in a few days.

REINHOLD PUBLISHING CORPORATION

Publishers: Automatic Control Materials in Design Engineering, Chemical Engineering College, Chemical Materials College, Scientific, Technical, Art and Architectural Books, College Textbooks and Advertising Management for the American Chemical Society Publications.