The Ceramic Rods Of The New York Times Building

The steel framed building cruciform in plan has a screen of 1 5 8 41 3 mm ceramic rods mounted on the exterior of the glass curtain wall on the east west and south facades.
The ceramic rods of the new york times building. The new york times building is the eleventh tallest building in the city tied with the chrysler building. The grid of ceramic rods on the new york times building exterior cuts down the heating load from the sun by 30 and the total energy bill by 13. One notable facade is the screen of ceramic rods on the new york times tower. The new york times headquarters building at 40th street and 8th avenue in new york city incorporates 1 000 000 linear feet of alphatube in front of a clear glass curtain wall.
They wanted a transparent building but also wanted innovative energy saving features. The alphatube is ceramic sunscreen which is used in front of windows and curtain wall. By sewell chan july 10 2008 the new york times began removing dozens of the distinctive horizontal ceramic rods that sheathe its year old building in midtown manhattan on wednesday afternoon. The new york times.
The purpose for this facade is not purely aesthetic appeal it also saves energy. The ceramic rod curtain allows light through but limits heat which helps keep the building cool. In contrast to the opaque design of many urban office buildings the new york times tower achieves a high level of transparency with the innovation of a second skin of cleverly spaced ceramic rods to reduce the heat load to a point where the building is energy efficient and yet has the great luxury of floor to ceiling water white glass. The attachment system is very similar to terracotta baguettes with metal rods running through the tubes and gaskets and closure brackets on each end.
A towering composition of glass and steel clad in a veil of ceramic rods it delivers on modernism s age old promise to drag us in this case the times out of the dark ages. If you ve ever seen the tower it looks kind of cool especially the ny times logo above the entrance of the building. The new york times building completed in 2007 and is home to the new york times.