Ford Foundation Headquarters
New York, New York · 1963
A seminal precedent for corporate architecture integrating a massive public atrium within a monumental granite and weathering steel frame.
- What we like about this project
- The way the massive stone envelope steps back to reveal a fully glazed, multi-story indoor garden.
Materials
- granite
- corten-steel
- glass
- concrete
Visual identifiers
- granite-piers
- corten-steel-framing
- atrium-facade
- monumental-scale
Style tags
- late-modernist
- brutalist
- monumental
Visual tags
- mid-century-modern
- corporate-headquarters
- atrium
- urban-infill
- monolithic
- Geometry
- A monumental cubic volume defined by massive granite-clad piers and deep, recessed glass-and-steel curtain walls that frame a large internal atrium.
- Facade system
- Granite-clad concrete piers with a recessed steel-and-glass curtain wall system.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete core and piers with structural steel framing for the atrium enclosure.
- Spatial scale
- Large-scale civic/corporate headquarters, approximately twelve stories tall with monumental structural bays.
- Lighting
- Bright, direct sunlight casting strong shadows across the recessed facade bays and highlighting the granite piers.
- Atmosphere
- A powerful, dignified urban presence that balances heavy stone mass with transparent, garden-filled voids.
- Environmental context
- Dense urban setting in Midtown Manhattan, flanked by high-rise towers with mature park trees in the foreground.
- Spatial experience
- The building presents a solid, protective stone frame to the street while opening up a vast, light-filled interior garden atrium visible through the glass facade.
- Composition rhythm
- A rhythmic alternation of heavy vertical stone piers and deep horizontal bands of steel and glass.
- Style reading
- Late Modernist / Brutalist transition
- Program
- Corporate headquarters and public atrium
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- granite, corten-steel, glass, concrete
- Visual identifiers
- granite-piers, corten-steel-framing, atrium-facade, monumental-scale
- Style tags
- late-modernist, brutalist, monumental
- Visual tags
- mid-century-modern, corporate-headquarters, atrium, urban-infill, monolithic
- Geometry
- A monumental cubic volume defined by massive granite-clad piers and deep, recessed glass-and-steel curtain walls that frame a large internal atrium.
- Facade system
- Granite-clad concrete piers with a recessed steel-and-glass curtain wall system.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete core and piers with structural steel framing for the atrium enclosure.
- Spatial scale
- Large-scale civic/corporate headquarters, approximately twelve stories tall with monumental structural bays.
- Lighting
- Bright, direct sunlight casting strong shadows across the recessed facade bays and highlighting the granite piers.
- Atmosphere
- A powerful, dignified urban presence that balances heavy stone mass with transparent, garden-filled voids.
- Environmental context
- Dense urban setting in Midtown Manhattan, flanked by high-rise towers with mature park trees in the foreground.
- Spatial experience
- The building presents a solid, protective stone frame to the street while opening up a vast, light-filled interior garden atrium visible through the glass facade.
- Composition rhythm
- A rhythmic alternation of heavy vertical stone piers and deep horizontal bands of steel and glass.
- Style reading
- Late Modernist / Brutalist transition
- Program
- Corporate headquarters and public atrium
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture