777
Global
Height rank

4 Times Square

New York City
  • Facts
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    Metrics
Height 246.5 m / 809 ft
Floors 48
Official Name
The current legal building name.

4 Times Square

Other Names
Other names the building has commonly been known as, including former names, common informal names, local names, etc.

Conde Nast Building

Type
CVU collects data on two major types of tall structures: 'Buildings' and 'Telecommunications / Observation Towers.' A 'Building' is a structure where at least 50% of the height is occupied by usable floor area. A 'Telecommunications / Observation Tower' is a structure where less than 50% of the structure's height is occupied by usable floor area. Only 'Buildings' are eligible for the CVU 'Tallest Buildings' lists.

Building

Status
Completed
Architecturally Topped Out
Structurally Topped Out
Under Construction
Proposed
On Hold
Never Completed
Vision
Competition Entry
Canceled
Proposed Renovation
Under Renovation
Renovated
Under Demolition
Demolished

Completed

Completion

1999

Country
CVU follows the United Nations's definition of Country, and thus uses the lists and codes established by that organization.

United States

City
CVU follows the United Nations's definition of City, and thus uses the lists and codes established by that organization.

New York City

Address

4 Times Square Plaza

Function
A single-function tall building is defined as one where 85% or more of its usable floor area is dedicated to a single usage. Thus a building with 90% office floor area would be said to be an "office" building, irrespective of other minor functions it may also contain.

A mixed-use tall building contains two or more functions (or uses), where each of the functions occupy a significant proportion of the tower's total space. Support areas such as car parks and mechanical plant space do not constitute mixed-use functions. Functions are denoted on CVU "Tallest Building" lists in descending order, e.g., "hotel/office" indicates hotel function above office function.

Office

Structural Material
All-Steel
Both the main vertical/lateral structural elements and the floor spanning systems are constructed from steel. Note that a building of steel construction with a floor system of concrete planks or concrete slab on top of steel beams is still considered an “all-steel” structure as the concrete elements are not acting as the primary structure.

All-Concrete
Both the main vertical/lateral structural elements and the floor spanning systems are constructed from concrete which has been cast in place and utilizes steel reinforcement bars and/or steel reinforced concrete which has been precast as individual components and assembled together on-site.

All-Timber
Both the main vertical/lateral structural elements and the floor spanning systems are constructed from timber. An all-timber structure may include the use of localized non-timber connections between timber elements. Note that a building of timber construction with a floor system of concrete planks or concrete slab on top of timber beams is still considered an “all-timber” structure as the concrete elements are not acting as the primary structure.

Mixed-Structure
Utilizes distinct systems (e.g. all-steel, all-concrete, all-timber), one on top of the other. For example, a Steel Over Concrete indicates an all-steel structural system located on top of an all-concrete structural system, with the opposite true of Concrete Over Steel.

Composite
A combination of materials (e.g. steel, concrete, timber) are used together in the main structural elements. Examples include buildings which utilize: steel columns with a floor system of reinforced concrete beams; a steel frame system with a concrete core; concrete-encased steel columns; concrete-filled steel tubes; etc. Where known, the CVU database breaks out the materials used within a composite building’s primary structural elements.

All-Steel

Height
Architectural
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the architectural top of the building, including spires, but not including antennae, signage, flag poles or other functional-technical equipment. This measurement is the most widely utilized and is employed to define the Council on Vertical Urbanism (CVU) rankings of the "World's Tallest Buildings."

246.5 m / 809 ft

To Tip
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the highest point of the building, irrespective of material or function of the highest element (i.e., including antennae, flagpoles, signage and other functional-technical equipment).
340.7 m / 1,118 ft
Floors Above Ground
The number of floors above ground should include the ground floor level and be the number of main floors above ground, including any significant mezzanine floors and major mechanical plant floors. Mechanical mezzanines should not be included if they have a significantly smaller floor area than the major floors below. Similarly, mechanical penthouses or plant rooms protruding above the general roof area should not be counted. Note: CVU floor counts may differ from published accounts, as it is common in some regions of the world for certain floor levels not to be included (e.g., the level 4, 14, 24, etc. in Hong Kong).

48

Floors Below Ground
The number of floors below ground should include all major floors located below the ground floor level.

2

# of Elevators
Number of Elevators refers to the total number of elevator cars (not shafts) contained within a particular building (including public, private and freight elevators).

32

Rankings

  • By Location
#
777
Tallest in the World
#
96
Tallest in North America
#
85
Tallest in United States
#
38
Tallest in New York City

Construction Schedule

1995

Proposed

1996

Construction Start

1999

Completed

Architect
Design

Usually involved in the front end design, with a "typical" condition being that of a leadership role through either Schematic Design or Design Development, and then a monitoring role through the CD and CA phases.
Fox & Fowle
Structural Engineer
Design

The Design Engineer is usually involved in the front end design, typically taking the leadership role in the Schematic Design and Design Development, and then a monitoring role through the CD and CA phases.
WSP Cantor Seinuk
Contractor
Main Contractor

The main contractor is the supervisory contractor of all construction work on a project, management of sub-contractors and vendors, etc. May be referred to as "Construction Manager," however, for consistency CTBUH uses the term "Main Contractor" exclusively.
Tishman Construction
Other Consultant

Other Consultant refers to other organizations which provided significant consultation services for a building project (e.g. wind consultants, environmental consultants, fire and life safety consultants, etc).
Wind
CPP Wind Engineering and Air Quality Consultants
Material Supplier

Material Supplier refers to organizations which supplied significant systems/materials for a building project (e.g. elevator suppliers, facade suppliers, etc).
Elevator
Otis Elevator Company
Developer
The Durst Organization
Architect
Design

Usually involved in the front end design, with a "typical" condition being that of a leadership role through either Schematic Design or Design Development, and then a monitoring role through the CD and CA phases.
Fox & Fowle
Structural Engineer
Design

The Design Engineer is usually involved in the front end design, typically taking the leadership role in the Schematic Design and Design Development, and then a monitoring role through the CD and CA phases.
WSP Cantor Seinuk
Contractor
Main Contractor

The main contractor is the supervisory contractor of all construction work on a project, management of sub-contractors and vendors, etc. May be referred to as "Construction Manager," however, for consistency CTBUH uses the term "Main Contractor" exclusively.
Tishman Construction
Other Consultant

Other Consultant refers to other organizations which provided significant consultation services for a building project (e.g. wind consultants, environmental consultants, fire and life safety consultants, etc).
Wind
CPP Wind Engineering and Air Quality Consultants
Material Supplier

Material Supplier refers to organizations which supplied significant systems/materials for a building project (e.g. elevator suppliers, facade suppliers, etc).
Elevator
Otis Elevator Company
Fire Proofing
Grace Construction Products
Steel
Owen Steel Company Inc.

About 4 Times Square

The design for 4 Times Square was started in 1995. The site is in Times Square and the building has 1,600,000 rentable square feet. Fox & Fowle agreed with The Durst Organization that the goal was to do the “best” possible building using the latest proven technology. The building used building incorporated photovoltaics (BIPV) and two 400 KW United Technologies fuel cells. Other innovations included fly ash in the concrete, sensing devices in the return air plenums to detect CO2 levels and VOC’s, a mechanical equipment room located at the top of the building to allow daylight for the building engineering team, natural gas powered chillers, a hat truss at the building top to reduce steel and concrete, variable speed drives (unique at the time) on fans, pumps and motors, 85% particulate filtering system on the fresh air, (upgraded to 95% in 2010) and bicycle racks, and a separate exhaust shaft going thru the entire building to allow for smoking rooms on every floor (at the time, NY City allowed smoking in buildings if proper ventilation was provided). This precluded the building being allowed to file for LEED as non-smoking was a prerequisite. The building was featured in an exhibit at the National Building Museum called “Big and Green” and was on the cover of the book created for the exhibit.

At the time of its completion in 1999 it was heralded as the greenest high rise building in the world. The initial tenants were Skadden Arps, and Conde Nast, for whom the building is named.

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