A Luminous History

The exterior and interior lighting schemes for the New York Times Building—by Office for Visual Interaction (OVI) and Susan Brady Lighting Design Studio (SBLD), respectively—is as complex as architect Renzo Piano’s delicate steel detailing. Each lighting firm faced specific challenges. OVI had to create a gradient wash across the tower’s façades without the benefit of ledges or setbacks behind which to conceal the lighting equipment. SBLD had to design a comprehensive electric lighting and shading control system that would work in the naturally lit open work space. As the main tenant and one of the main clients, The New York Times Co.’s commitment and investment to studying and testing lighting options was quite unprecedented. The company constructed a full-scale mock-up in the parking lot of its printing facility in College Point, Queens, and invited employees to spend time working there and to provide feedback about light quality and illumination levels. Data was collected from Dec. 21, 2003, to June 21, 2004, under the watchful eye of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The investigation provided the building owners, architects, lighting designers, and manufacturers an accurate reference point from which to select the daylighting-shading-dimming combination.