Treasures of New York: Hearst Tower

Hearst tower 46 stories of geometric brilliance I think it ranked with the best the Woolworth Building the Chrysler Building Empire State Treasurer's of New York Hearst tower gives you a look inside this media empire this is Good Housekeeping famous Test Kitchen and top to bottom you get an exclusive tour of this Manhattan masterpiece known for its innovations Hearst tower really was groundbreaking as a green office pole and its architectural statement it tries to be very much a part of New York but at the same time does this balancing act in terms of having its own identity there's only one Hearst this program is made possible by the Cheryl and Philip Milstein family and the Metropolitan media fund and now treasures of New York Hearst tower with Paula Zahn standing in the atrium of Hearst tower it's easy to see why this building is viewed by many as one of the most important new skyscrapers on the New York City skyline in the last 30 years on the one hand it embraces the past and on the other hand it clearly signals the future as you'll see in treasures of New York Hearst tower it is enough to take your breath away the skyline of Manhattan and the gemlike Hearst tower is a shimmering addition that captures the eye and a flash of glass and steel 46 stories of modernism shooting out of the original 1928 Art Deco base in one sleek architectural masterpiece a very simple statement of a tower balanced on a base it's a dialogue between the past and the present Hearst Corporation dates back to the 1800s when the legendary and often controversial William Randolph Hearst took over family's publishing business in San Francisco and in 1895 decided to expand his target New York newspaper town in the country Hearst bought the New York Journal and went on to acquire a chain of newspapers and to modernize newspaper publishing with the introduction of color printing comic syndication and new services popper grows the fire of a palatial and greatest airship ever built is reduced to a red-hot skeleton in the early 1900's the media mogul known in part for his sensational style of journalism and his flamboyant lifestyle expanded his empire two magazines including cosmopolitan Good Housekeeping and Harper's Bazaar he was a great innovator and would not accept the status quo in anything Frank Bennett has spent more than 50 years of his career at Hearst Corporation applying the same approach I was always inspired that he was never going to be satisfied to stay where you are today and I've kind of let that guide me today benek is in his second stint CEO the privately held company and also serves as vice chairman of the board of directors with everything that we've done in a hundred and a hundred and twenty five year history of this company I can't think of anything that's brought more attention our notability to this company than this building at the height of William Randolph Hearst success he had a plan to create Hearst Plaza in the Columbus Circle area to rival Times Square and Park Row the Hearst international magazine building built in 1928 by theatrical designer and architect Joseph urban is the only survivor of that grand plan the Art Deco building made of yellowish cast stone was built with fortifications and fluted columns anticipation of adding a tower at a later date he made provisions in the plans at that time for adding a tower it would not have been the kind of tower that we're looking at today but nonetheless he envisioned the growth of media in this neighborhood of New York and his own building expanding in in later years but the year after the building open that expansion plan was stopped cold as the country plunged into the Great Depression what was more satisfactory to you 1928 in the inflation period are the dismal years of deflation over the next almost three-quarters of a century the idea of the tower was revisited by Hearst executives several times but as the country engaged in one world war after another the right circumstances didn't present themselves until well into been extreme and then there came a time in the 90s when company was doing well we were in a position to afford a new headquarters building we needed it benek tap gilbert more a director of hearst corporation to head up an architecture search committee more narrowed the field to architects ooh it won the Pritzker Prize often called the Nobel Prize of architecture we were interested in those Pritzker winners who had pretty good credentials and Reconstructive architecture meaning taking old buildings and adding to them Norman Foster absolutely stood out from the crowd Pritzker Prize winning architect Norman Foster known for his daring approach to marrying the old and the new like Berlin's Reichstag and London's British Museum Hearst tower would be Foster's first skyscraper in the United States I think the opportunity to do a tall building even a relatively low tall building in Manhattan which is so synonymous with skyscrapers with urbanity just tremendously exciting prospect for NER he was an ideal choice for the Hearst building Paul Goldberger is the Pulitzer Prize winning architecture critic at The New Yorker and the author of a number of books including why architecture matters the biggest problem the Hearst building presented to an architect is how do you deal with that bottom that bottom whether you love it or hate it it's a very strong presence do you lie down and play dead in front of it or do you respond with kind of strength of your own foster responded with great strength of his own but it but in a different way than the original building and it works everybody assumed that the base of the building which was six stories of 1920s accommodation in other words the ceilings were very low it would be really substandard of his space when I came up with the idea of scooping all that out and creating a community focus everybody said you'll never do that in you my convincing everybody that that was a desirable direction to go in architectural II visually aesthetically that I think was a pivotal decision another crucial design element was the building's exterior structure foster proposed covering the facade with what is called a diagram a diagonal grid of trusses made up of a series of four-story high interlocking triangles that would support the tower if you look to the Hudson River side of this building you will see that we have a building right behind it the problem with that is is that it blocks your view so what Norman did was to move the elevator core to the back of the building now when you move it to the back of the building you have destabilized the engineering of it in a way you have to compensate for so this made the diets truck sure the Buckminster Fuller inspired structure absolutely the right thing for this building organically correct because it transferred all of the structural strength from the center of the building to the exterior it became an exoskeleton that was holding the building up the sturdy di'ja great design would make it the first New York City skyscraper without vertical beams you notice them daya grid the geometry that's very very efficient it means we can use 20% less steel as a lot of tons of steel it's also more efficient in the way that it distributes the load and in its appearance it's quite unique the diagram also embodies the environmentally conscious approach that foster proposed for the entire project 90% of the tower steel contains recycled materials and from design through construction furnishing and operation foster hope to bring his focus on sustainability to the New York City skyline for as long as I can remember as an architect I've always been interested in issues of sustainability in addition to the structurally efficient exterior the roof was designed to collect rainwater that would be used for the air conditioning system and for one of her Stowers signature art features Icefall would be a two-story sculpted waterfall cascading on both sides of the diagonal escalator it would not only be stunning but would also serve an environmental function by humidifying and cooling parts of the building it was time to present the groundbreaking plans to the Hurstbourne for final approval Foster and benek along with other executives scheduled one last session together the day before the board meeting the date of that final planning session September 11th 2001 there has been an explosion at the World Trade Center we heard about this unbelievable event going on downtown there is smoke coming from the tower on the northern side of the northern tower in Frank's conference room at the time we had a big television set we turned it on and it involved an apparent accident involving an airplane of some type and we had and so what was what was happening now we're getting reports that in fact a second airplane has crashed into the other tower at the World Trade Center we're all overpowered emotionally obviously by the events of the day the last thing anybody in the world wanted to talk about then was building a tower in New York City after what had happened to the Twin Towers the critical hearse boarding scheduled for September 12th 2001 was cancelled once again as had been the case almost 75 years before world events put the building of the tower at risk at that point of time if you had asked us what are the chances that you're going to build this tower we probably wouldn't have given you too high in odds that we were going to do that although we were committed to this city and it didn't take us long to pull our emotions together and decide look this is important this is where we live this is the headquarters of this company this city needs this boost we're going to be here in October 2001 the Hearst board made the decision to greenlight the first major construction project in New York City after 9/11 Hurst's decision to go ahead with this right after 9/11 was an incredibly important symbol but before construction on the tower could begin there was still one more major hurdle the original six story Art Deco building had been designated an historic landmark in 1988 that meant the tower he wanted to build on top of the existing base require approval from Landmarks Preservation Commission when I was landmarks commissioner for New York City Gilmore came to see me Hunter College president Jennifer Raab headed up the Landmarks Preservation Commission when Hearst first decided to go forward with the tower it's hard to change it landmark in New York City in the sense of people getting used to that concept and you really need to make feet people feel comfortable it's appropriate and sometimes fine architecture really helps you get over that line in the fall of 2001 when the Hearst tower design was presented to the Landmarks Preservation Commission the Commission made the unprecedented decision of unanimously approving Norman Foster's plan there was a round of applause at the end of the presentation I assumed that that was that was normal it was only afterwards that I gathered it was somewhat different two and a half years after 9/11 and after the tower plan was given the go-ahead Hearst broke ground and in 2004 construction began it took more than a year to build the tower frame and to top out the 46 story bill on the exterior of the building to create the diagram made of stainless steel cladding a custom two-tier monorail scaffold had to be built that could move side to side and up and down installing the more than 3,000 windows was like putting together a complicated puzzle on any given floor there are up to 12 different window configurations and the window corner slan inward forming eight story high birdsmouth washing those windows also required a custom-built scaffold the job is not for the faint of heart while the roof was off the atriums diagonal escalator had to be hoisted into the gutted interior the fifty eight foot long escalator was made in one piece and sat protected by plywood for more than a year before it was installed in 2006 five years after the building was ceremoniously given the go-ahead the tower was finished when Hearst tower opened in 2006 it redefined the modern skyscraper pioneer a sustainable architectural vision for the 21st century it is New York City's first occupied office building to receive both a LEED Gold rating for new construction and LEED Platinum status for an existing building the highest possible rating from the US Green Building Council Luna Wikus was project manager for the design and construction herse new global headquarters the building was designed to be about 24% more efficient than the baseline approved energy code model for New York City ability that says something what says more is that year after year we have achieved significant reductions in energy each year the building now uses less energy than when it first opened in part because of how the interior was designed the most dramatic sustainable feature is front and center minute one enters the lung the first thing you see when you walk in is Icefall and that's our water features 50 tons of glass what's really unique about this feature other than the fact that it's beautiful water is all rain water it is collected into a 14,000 gallon tank in the basement when visitors come to Hearst tower unless they're on a guided tour the lobby is as far as they convention Hearst tower is not open to the public but top to bottom we have an exclusive personal tour world-famous building did you kill him the escalator see all the dye grids that rise and support the whole tower if you look along on the outside walls you see all the old windows in the original Hurst Magazine building you also see the big open space that's created on the third floor which really is the center of it all above the atrium floors ten to forty five house offices for the hearse seven Media Group's most of the company's magazine employees as well as maintenance operations for the forty-six storey skyscraper and a wide to the top is a unique experience these are called destination based elevator systems you tell the elevator where you want to go and I'll say I want to go to the 44th floor and it will tell me what letter car to go to what this does is it grooves people to like floors and allows the elevator to make as the least amount of stops as possible Hearst is one of America's largest diversified media and information companies that has more than 300 international editions of its magazines as well as interests in newspaper and business publishing cable networks television radio internet and real estate while each has its own identity most have the same basic floor plan and same attention to detail to create an environmentally sustainable workplace and the typical office environment Braun right now green aspects are all around us from the carpet tile to the ceiling tile all materials have a certain amount of recycled content and are recyclable the lighting is high-efficiency the interior areas are free from pillars and walls creating one mile of glass office fronts what I like about the building is that I feel it was designed with people's actual lives in mind Joanna Coles is editor in chief re Claire magazine and also appears as a mentor on time's Project Runway All Stars this is the maryclaire floor it's split between advertising and editorial which I'm responsible for and probably my favorite room on the entire floor is the fashion closet which is this way we always have three or four maybe more shoots going on at a time so we bring the clothes in here they get sorted we have a team of interns who are working on it and then we're laying specific looks out teaming them teaming the clothes together on the floor so it gives us plenty of space to do that I like being able to see the whole magazine up on the wall and in the art room we have the facility to do that we have our board where we put pages at once a page is designed it comes and it's put on the wall up here so you get a sense of the flow of what looks right and then this is where we start playing with well what if we move this story and you know we put this story where this story would be so we can just take them off and then see if we like the look of doing that the cubicles stretch all the way down the office and the thing that is really interesting I think is that it's a completely non hierarchical layout so yes there are offices my office is in the middle but the sort of money shop which is the corner views are really public space while the majority of the floors mirror marie-claire there is one floor in the building unlike any other on the 29th floor is the renowned Good Housekeeping Research Institute the capacity Research Institute was founded in 1915 years after Good Housekeeping magazine was launched Miriam Aaron is director of Good Housekeeping Research Institute and serves as the editorial link between the Institute and Good Housekeeping magazine they started the Institute which was originally called the Experiment Station to start testing products that were new on the market this was right after the invention of tricity they were all these new household appliances and the goal was to help homemakers solve problems and tell them what worked best and what did the Good Housekeeping Seal was launched in 1909 and means that if you buy a product that becomes defective within two years of purchase we will replace the product to refund your money this is our beauty lab it's staffed by chemists and biologists and we test all types of beauty products and we have state-of-the-art lab equipment this is a hair swatch washing station we use hair swatches or testing shampoos conditioners hair dye so this is something that you know certainly no other women's magazine has the capability of doing we have real data to show what works and what doesn't this is our textile lab over here we have a climate-controlled room so this is our abrasion machine and what this does is tell us which fabrics are most likely to pill this is important for sweaters it's important for all kinds of clothing for bathing suits so if you want to know if a bathing suit is going to pill when you sit at the side of pool this machine Katella this is Good Housekeeping famous Test Kitchen we have a triple test promise in every issue of Good Housekeeping magazine and the truth is we often test a recipe even more than three times but at the very least we're testing each recipe on a gas range on an electric range and we're testing it using various brands of ingredients in addition to the Test Kitchen there are six labs at the Institute run by chemists engineers nutritionists and other scientists and every year about 5,000 products carry the Good Housekeeping Seal many others don't passed muster it's all part of the consumer advocacy commitment of this more than 100 year old women's magazine located right here since the original building open this is the original Good Housekeeping living room and dining room as you can see it's very different from a modern sleek lab facility it was very important to everybody at Hearst to preserve this living room dining room because so many famous people celebrities presidents have been visitors here it's all part of Hearst Corporation more than 100 year history as a global media giant no more visual symbol of that then first town it expresses the mood and the aspirations of the Hearst Corporation with our feet firmly planted in our past our heart in the present with our people but our eyes on the future the Hearst tower to my mind the best skyscraper built in New York certainly the last 20 or 30 years and it's very visible I think there is a sense of vacation there's a there's a certain sense of drama a sense of place there is no way you could not be thrilled with the outcome I have an apartment that has a view of this building and every morning I would watch it go up I would watch it out my window I think that's something that I had something to do with you don't expect that you're going to influence the skyline of New York City greatest city in the world by many estimations Hearst tower is truly a 21st century architectural icon and while no one knows for sure everyone suspects that William Randolph Hearst would have loved how his vision for this building was finally realized I'm Paula Zahn thanks for watching treasures of New York Hearst tower this program was made possible by the Cheryl and Philip Milstein family and the metropolitan media fund you

Channel: THIRTEEN

Views: 86,785

Keywords: new york city, treasures of new york, hearst tower, media

Id: h9SfMv9bbLQ

Length: 26min 46sec (1606 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 25 2012