The Top Five Mediatric Skyscrapers

Historically the tower has served to communicate to the masses. Cathedrals, demonstrated the awe-inspiring power of God through their great height and structural disposition. They also marked the passage of time, through the ringing of their bells. The medieval tower, visible and audible from great distances, served as a communal focus and early form of mass media.

Contemporary towers, though built for different purposes, still communicate varied messages. Their dramatic scale and iconographic status allow them to communicate to a mass audience. At an urban scale they form visual markers and collective symbols. Their presence proliferates through images and icons, making them emblems of corporations, cities, and nations. 5 Times Square (Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, New York, 2002)

Marking the corner of Seventh Avenue and the "New 42nd Street," the 5 Times Square building forms a sleek new addition to the animated architecture of Times Square. The tower's angular massing and diagonal lines play off the visual cacophony of Times Square, generating a design that blends into the context by transforming the architecture into signage.

The mass of the tower is broken down through a series of cuts and folds in the façade, emphasizing a prismatic volume on the corner. The cladding accentuates the prow-shaped corner figure, employing taut silver glass on the corner, and a horizontally banded glass on the sides. A saw- tooth horizontal texture creates a radiating patterned overlay on the façade adjacent to the prow. The geometry of the tower avoids right angles, adding to the tower's angular appearance and camouflaging its mass.

Signage bands run up the side of the tower, reinforcing the diagonal piece, and animating the facades. Ernst and Young's illuminated corporate logo crowns the top, while at the base the lower floors are covered in a jumbled assortment of illuminated billboards.