Lauren Chirco Blog 8

The New York Times Building's elegant design is a floor-to-ceiling tower with a clear glass curtain wall veiled with a second skin of horizontal ceramic rods on an aluminum frame. These horizontal rods create an intricate skin made up of nearly a thousand separate custom-designed pieces. The white ceramic rods are functional shielding devices to direct light and reduce heat gain; they also work to bounce light onto the interior walls. Light can play a tricky part in all buildings but as designers we have the chance and choice to control the light becoming a factor to our building. The New York Time Building is not just intricate systematically but has a graceful roof design that extends to the sky. The vertical pieces used to hold the horizontal shading screen device raise to the high point of the building and then continue to work as a shading detail to the roof. The importance of extending a design throughout a building can be shown in the New York Times Building.