Disney’s new NYC office is designed to shape-shift as fast as media does

Walt Disney's new headquarters in New York is a 1.2-million-square-foot skyscraper that will house around 5,000 employees by the end of the summer. The building is designed to create a sense of flexibility and appeal for every single one of them, considering Disney's diverse portfolio that includes studio films, theme parks, broadcast news, radio, podcasts, streaming, digital media, and magazines. The design firms behind the building, SOM, Gensler, and SCAPE, looked to the core of Disney's business in New York and designed a building that can move right alongside the fast-evolving nature of media. The building is meant to bring a cohesive culture across many business segments, housing all of Disney's New York operations under one roof now and in the future. Disney has a history of flexing its ambition through architecture, but this building is a departure from its previous corporate image, which leaned heavily into fantasy. The building's exterior is sheathed in viridian terra-cotta tiles and bird-safe glass, a spiritual descendant of sophisticated Art Deco designs. The building is all electric and received a LEED Platinum rating, thanks to features like rooftop solar panels, automated daylight sensors, and a direct outside air system. The design teams emphasized wide-open spaces on the newsroom floors and created an additional entrance for the studios' daily talk show attendees. The building's 300-seat theater and Great Hall can be transformed for different events and parties, and the offices, meeting rooms, and phone rooms are all outfitted with tools for remote conferencing. The design team aimed to create a "vertical campus" where people can have more choice in where they work and have a superlative experience regardless of their function or personality.