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The marigold color is used throughout the public areas. As the interior design architect, Gensler also used color throughout the Times spaces to contribute verve and lightness. Red plaster walls signify employee areas. There are white oak hardwood floors and cherry office furniture, with low walls that contribute to the sense of space.

Staircases in the tower's corners connect Times spaces and allow staffers to move through the newspaper's offices without the use elevators. This helps connect the staff, fosters chance communication, and also saves energy.

Which brings us to the front page of this project. Openness and transparency come at a price. With large expanses of clear glass in an office building, you risk heat gain.

The architects devised a solar shade in the form of a grille of 186,000 white aluminum-silicate ceramic rods, about an inch-and-a-half (3.8 centimeters) thick and nearly five feet (1.5 meters) long, held 18 inches (46 centimeters) off the glass curtain wall. These scrims, which appear as symbolic broadsheets wrapping the tower like newsprint on a web press, provide enough shading to cut heat gain by 30 percent and energy costs by 13 percent.

Inside the Times offices, 18,000 dimmable ceiling fixtures adjust according to the available natural light. Window shades controlled by light sensors adjust to cut glare. The effect is an organic building, in David Thurm's words, constantly adjusting to the natural light conditions, the weather, and the arc of the sun.

Other sustainable features include an underfloor heating and cooling system — considered the first major installation in the city — which uses natural convection currents to keep the air circulating. Carbon dioxide sensors call for more fresh air to be pumped in when it's needed.

The building's co-generation plant provides 40 percent of the newspaper's electrical use, and its waste heat is used to help warm and cool the building.

Space and light — two of architecture's oldest elements — are joined in the New York Times Building, which helps points the way to environmentally sustainable skyscrapers to come.   >>>

Michael J. Crosbie is editor-in-chief of Faith & Form, the chair of the University of Hartford's Department of Architecture, and a contributing editor to ArchitectureWeek.

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SUBSCRIPTION SAMPLE Two window walls form a corridor that separates the ground-floor auditorium from the central garden. Photo: Nic Lehoux Extra Large Image Beyond the "Movable Type" installation, the wide lobby encloses the garden. Photo: Nic Lehoux Extra Large Image SUBSCRIPTION SAMPLE A hall displays Pulitzer Prizes awarded to the New York Times and its writers and photographers. Photo: Nic Lehoux Extra Large Image New York Times Building west elevation drawing. Image: © Renzo Piano/ FXFOWLE Extra Large Image Partial west elevation drawing. Image: © Renzo Piano/ FXFOWLE Extra Large Image Wall-section detail drawings. Image: © Renzo Piano/ FXFOWLE Extra Large Image Wing wall detail drawings. Image: © Renzo Piano/ FXFOWLE Extra Large Image New York Times Building cafeteria. Photo: Nic Lehoux Extra Large Image A common palette of materials unifies interior structural details with those of the Times Building's exterior. Photo: Nic Lehoux Extra Large Image In the cafeteria, the stair guardrails are clear glass. Photo: Nic Lehoux Extra Large Image   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.