Spend a Day at The New York Times Building

When a design team decides to coordinate daylight and electric light with an automated shading and lighting control system, the results can be extraordinary. For an example of extraordinary, consider the results realized by The New York Times Building, completed in 2006 and located on 8th Avenue between 40th and 41st streets. It was designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Paris, in association with Fox and Fowle Architects, New York City; interiors by Gensler and interior lighting design by SBLD Studio. Following construction, the building realized a 24 percent total energy savings.

The New York Times Building pushed the boundaries of what was considered possible in daylighting and daylight harvesting and today realizes a 24 percent total energy savings, according to recent Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory studies. Image courtesy of: The New York Times Company, Forest City Ratner Companies, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, FXFowle Architects; photo by Artefactory

The 51-story building clad in a curtain wall of clear, low-iron glass and white ceramic tubes has become one of the most celebrated experiments of daylighting and daylight harvesting in a commercial environment. At the time of the building's design and mock-up, this project pushed the boundaries of what was considered possible in terms of shading and electric lighting systems integration. Today, it is the proof that these automated daylighting strategies can deliver significant energy savings and maintain an optimal visual environment, supporting productivity and employee morale.

In fact, the results of the post-occupancy study, conducted in a collaboration of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and The New York Times Building, have recently been published at http://windows.lbl.gov/comm_perf/nyt_post-occupancy.html. The evaluation of the dimmable lighting and automated shading systems found dramatic energy savings and overall occupant satisfaction, resulting in an impressive payback period.

The Automated Shading and Lighting Control System

At the core of the automated shading and lighting control system used in the New York Times Building are motorized roller shades, solar radiometers, photometers, photosensors, dimmable fluorescent ballasts, and daylighting software. The automated shading system was designed to be both proactive and responsive. The system preemptively programmed the positions of its roller shades based on the known solar path of the sun and then modifies the shade position to accommodate changes in sky condition or reflecting surfaces. Solar radiometers were mounted on the roof to continuously monitor sky conditions and enable the shading system to adjust to cloudy or clear days accordingly. Photometers were placed externally on the building to monitor sky brightness and photosensors were placed on the interior to monitor the amount of daylight present in the space. The dimmable fluorescent ballasts dim, switch off or brighten the fluorescent lighting depending upon the levels of daylight detected in the space. The selected ballasts communicated via the Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) protocol. Each DALI ballast receives an independent address and can be independently controlled or controlled as part of a larger group of ballasts. This independent control was especially critical for the lighting fixtures around the perimeter of the building and gave each ballast the ability to respond to the specific illumination needs of their immediate environment. The daylighting system also features brightness-override to protect occupant comfort in all daylight conditions and shadow-override to raise the shades to maximize daylight and view whenever a window zone has been in shadow for 20 minutes or more.

Daylighting and Daylight Harvesting System Goals

At the time that the specification was written, The New York Times intended to establish target illumination levels on a departmental basis. This allows each department to customize its own visual environment to best support the specific visual tasks performed in the space and accommodate preferences of the personnel. Although target illumination levels may vary from department to department, the automated systems will coordinate the presence of daylight and electric light in the space to maintain that target illumination level on the work plane.