Designed by Renzo Piano, the New York Times building is a 52-story structure with a unique structure made of exposed columns and beams penetrating the façade at every alternate floor. Half the building was to be occupied by NYT, while the other half was to be rented out.
Ms. Thomas modeled the building for integrated energy analysis. She also analyzed the beam penetration by building a 3-D model (using a finite element analysis program used for aerospace modeling called ALGOR) to establish the location and amount of insulation that would effectively move the dewpoint outside the building.