HEAST TOWER (NEW YORK US)

It is a glass tower designed by Norman Foster that rises from inside the 1928 Art Deco building, producing a great contrast. Of the old building, only the facades that were preserved intact remain, while the interior was emptied, leaving space for the new structure and creating an urban place.

The most characteristic of the tower is the design of its facade in the shape of a diamond.

The visual relationship with the horizon is constantly changing. From the south its rotund crystal figure appears arbitrarily cut at the tip. When the viewer approaches, the huge triangular windows on the façade disorient him, making it difficult to capture the true scale of the building since each triangular window corresponds to four functional floors inside.

This building is also very important because it was conceived as a striking steel and glass skyscraper that enshrines a number of milestones related to the environment and design. Hearst Tower became a true pioneer in environmental sustainability, having been declared the first «green» office building in New York City.

this building was designed to consume 26% less than other buildings in the city. This was achieved by saving steel thanks to the shape and recycling 85% of the steel from the old structure. The crystals were designed to pass through the light but not the heat, thus avoiding the use of air conditioners. As well as using ecological materials for the construction of the entire work. To finish at the top of the tower, a terrace with a lawn was designed to collect rainwater. From there, the collected water is taken to the subsoil, reaching a cistern tank with a capacity of 53 thousand liters. This reduces the amount of water discharged into the city’s sewage system by 25%. Rainwater is stored to replace the evaporated water from the air conditioning system and used to irrigate the indoor plants and trees on the avenue.

The water structure that occupies the three floors of the Atrium, adjacent to the escalators, was built with 50 tonnes of glass and allows the circulation of filtered rainwater, collected from the roof of the tower. By recycling rainwater, 6.4 million liters are saved annually that would otherwise be wasted. The water refreshes the place in summer and moistens it in winter

The entire atrium is under a glass ceiling, so that when the viewer looks up, they have a dizzying view

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

https://10obrasdearte.com/norman-foster/ https://arquitecturaviva.com/obras/torre-hearst#lg=1&slide=16 https://es.wikiarquitectura.com/edificio/oficinas-hearst/