SOM and Gensler clad Disney New York headquarters in green terracotta

American studios SOM and Gensler have completed a headquarters for media company Disney in New York City that references the local architecture but uses stand-out terracotta cladding.

Officially named the Robert A Iger Building, the structure rises 19 storeys with a valley and peak form created by taller volumes pushed to each side of the building.

The headquarters will serve as a central point of Disney's operations in New York, including administration and production for its new divisions such as ABC.

SOM was tasked with creating the form of the structure, which occupies a whole block bounded by Hudson Street on one side and Varick Street on the other.

When articulating the form, SOM had to contend with a zoning change to Hudson Square that has allowed mixed-use structures in the formerly residential area. This has lead to a flurry of development in the area according to the studio.

"When Disney purchased this site, that became the most visible expression of that ongoing change," SOM partner Colin Koop told Dezeen.

The structure was designed to correspond with the already existing architectural format of the neighbourhood, while remaining distinct.

"The phrase that was given to us was that they wanted to 'stand out by fitting in'," said Koop.

"The question then was, how do you harmonize with the surroundings and also show Disney's confident identity as a dynamic 21st-century media company?"

One of the primary methods used was the cladding, a large-format green terracotta that references the patented copper and masonry used traditionally in the area for inlays.

However, the "saturated and chromatic" finish on the Disney building works to distinguish it from the surroundings.

The team used "art deco tonalities" and "vocabulary of abstraction and contemporary ideas of grids" seen in local buildings, while employing formal strategies to break up the facade.

The HQ features a series of setbacks and nested volumes that create plentiful outdoor spaces and opportunities for natural light to enter the space.

Landscape studio SCAPE programmed the occupiable green roofs.

At the base of the building, some of the structural concrete was left exposed, revealing the material's green tint, which corresponds to the green terracotta cladding.

The facades on Spring and Hudson were given fluid entry points for entryways and retail.

New York has a long history of massive buildings dedicated to media companies, such as Rockefeller Center and Eero Saarinen's Black Rock for CBS.

Koop said they were aware of building in this tradition while working on the structure.

For the interior programme, Gensler created a fluid environment for collaboration and equipment sharing between the different companies working under the Disney umbrella.

The lower floors were geared more towards technical work and the use of equipment for sound stages and production, whereas the upper floors were kept open for administrative and office work.

"One of the key ideas here is that you can film anywhere here, or you can create content here," Gensler principal Johnathan Sandler told Dezeen.

"So the whole building is optimized as a content creation engine," he continued.

"We wanted to integrate the production component with the general workplace, the creative workplace component."

This strategy included having multiple different formats of workspaces for desktop and laptop work.

One of the more stand-out spaces is the Great Room, located in the middle of the building, which features a large column-free space topped by a saw-tooth roof with skylights.

The plentiful natural light made possible by these integrations of exterior and interior design complements the overall sustainability strategy employed in the project.

In line with local regulations eliminating fossil fuels in building operations in the city, the building is all electric. The team implemented high-performing facades, bird glass, and photovoltaics.

"This is the greenest building at this scale in New York City," said Koop.

"It's a complete expression of, not only what a vibrant 21st-century contextual building is, but of what 21st-century sustainable architecture should look like and operate like."

Recently, studios have been emphasising the "all-electric" character of buildings constructed in line with New York's new regulations, including a supertall skyscraper by Foster + Partners.

Other buildings that feature terracotta exteriors include a black terracotta-clad office building, also by SOM, in New York.

The photography is by Dave Burk courtesy of SOM. 

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