by Michael J. Crosbie

Ask most architects to name the most elemental ingredients of great architecture, and chances are they will say "space and light."

But these are not necessarily the first two words that come to mind when thinking about skyscrapers, especially tall buildings in New York City.

They're considered objects in space, but they can't really be appreciated in that way unless we back off a bit and see them isolated on the skyline — the way the Empire State Building is often portrayed, or Mies van der Rohe's Seagram Building, which has the benefit of a generous setback from Park Avenue, making it a bronze trophy on a pedestal.

But from within, neither Seagram nor Empire State nor most of the hundreds of other tall buildings in New York contain architecture's essence of space and light.

The New York Times Building changes all that. The 52-story tower, filling out its site on 8th Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets in midtown Manhattan, is all about the space and light within.   >>>

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SUBSCRIPTION SAMPLE The new New York Times Building was designed by Renzo Piano, with New York City-based FXFOWLE Architects. Photo: David Sundberg/ Esto Extra Large Image The New York Times Building stands 52 stories tall in the center of midtown Manhattan. Photo: Vincent LaForet for the New York Times Extra Large Image   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.