The first green skyscraper in New York City, the Conde Nast building is a 48-story office tower that was finished in 2000. Part of the 42nd Street Master Plan to promote the redevelopment of this area in the center of Manhattan, Four Times Square is the first project of its size to adopt state-of-the-art standards for energy conservation, indoor air quality, recycling systems and use of sustainable manufacturing processes. The building includes environmentally efficient gas-fired absorption chillers and a curtain wall with shading and insulating performance.
- Crossroads of the World - The tower has two orientations, facing both Broadway on a dynamic active environment and 42nd Street on the more sober mid-town characteristics. The top of the building represents a high-technology structural support standing at the intersection. In an article in the New York Times, Herbert Muschamp wrote,
“..it excels as a piece of urban theater, with a cluster of neon signs at the base and an eruption of high technology hardware popping out of the top.”