the hearst tower

300 west 57th street

Built in 1928 by William Randolph Hearst, the Hearst Building is a distinguished Landmark building located on the west side of Manhattan.In 2003, architect Norman Foster was hired to construct a 46 story tower on top of the original building which would headquarter all of the Hearst Corporation’s numerous publications and communications companies. The bottom portion of the building, originally built as the base of a skyscraper postponed by the great depression, is a NYC Landmark, and was going to be preserved and restored as part of the tower’s construction.

This was the first skyscraper construction project to break ground following the events of 9/11 and so special considerations were being taken to accommodate blast resiliency measures. The Hearst Tower project was also the first true “green” skyscraper built in Manhattan, designation that demanded a high level of forethought as to how to improve the historic façade’s energy efficiency.

Our challenge was to design a window to replace the existing steel double hungs in the landmarked portion of the building that meet the need for blast resiliency and energy efficiency while maintaining the original landmark profiles.

The resulting design expands on our Tilt and Turn series windows to incorporate a heavier sash and frame to support the weight of a1 ¼”laminated glazing with Starfire heat strengthened glass for the interior lite. This glass package is meets the blast resistance requirement for the project without sacrificing performance or clarity and despite their weight every sash is operable with an easy turn of the handle and maintains the narrow landmark sightlines of the original steel windows.

This was one of the first projects Skyline was involved with that had a blast requirement specified by the project architect. The Landmark portion of the building now has clean modern windows to match the steel and glass tower above that meet or exceed all criteria set forth by the project team.