The New York Times Building

New York, NY, USA

Photo © Frieder Blickle

Photo © Michel Denancè

Photo © Frieder Blickle

Office Buildings

Lighting Designers: OFFICE FOR VISUAL INTERACTION, INC. (OVI)

Location: ‎620 Eighth Avenue, 10018 New York, NY, USA
Year: 2008

Nighttime lighting reinforces the New York Times Building’s elegance through a precise gradation of light: brightest at the base of the tower and tapering to a soft glow at its summit. Luminaires equipped with state-of-the-art optics were used to stretch illumination across the entire 850’ tall facade. To meet Times Square District requirements for providing an animated façade, select luminaires above pedestrian level are painted “taxi-yellow”—a cultural reference to midtown traffic. Together with the logo graphic, this solution circumvents the usual illuminated billboards and large video screens. In the lobby, lighting highlights the building’s integrated exterior and interior architecture. By controlling illumination levels through the depth of the space, the scheme draws one’s gaze through the interior garden courtyard and into the glass-walled Times Center auditorium space beyond.