An Inspiring Place To Spend One’s Day

by | Apr 27, 2007


New York Time Building by Khoi Vinh

Khoi Vinh is the Design Director for NYTimes.com. He started working in the paper’s new building this week. This is how he describes it:

The new Times building at 40th Street and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan’s midtown was designed by Renzo Piano, and whether it fits your taste or not, it’s hard to deny that it’s the most notable new skyscraper to rise on the island this decade.

From top to bottom, the new building is all metal and glass, like some kind of throwback to the early optimism of modernist impulses. But it feels not all anachronistic; rather, walking its hallways and staring out its windows, it’s almost brashly futuristic.

While this new structure looks and no doubt is impressive, I’m not a huge fan of tall buildings. I don’t mind gazing at them or pondering how they’re constucted, but I don’t want to work in one. For that I require a small, naturally lit, well ventilated space just steps from nature.