Hearst Corporation Hearst by the Numbers Corporate Exhibition. Collaboration with Chermayeff and Gaismar Studio and R/Greenberg Associates R/GA The allocated site for the exhibition space is 2200 square feet on the northern mezzanine: rectangular in shape and oriented east-west. The mezzanine features two means of egress: the formal / ceremonial entrance stairs approaching the site from the elevator lobby, and the 14 foot by 14 foot cube that houses an emergency staircase on the west end of the mezzanine. After Ghiora Aharoni Design Studio's visit to the site, we identified three big challenges in the Hearst by the Numbers project. How does Ghiora Aharoni Design Studio respond, react, and honor the extraordinary space that Sir Norman Foster has created for Hearst? How does Ghiora Aharoni Design Studio respond to preconditions – like staircase number 3 – and make them seem as if they are an integral part of the design? How does Ghiora Ahraoni Design Studio create a design that expresses the duality of Hearst: on the one hand, the company’s legacy and tradition, and, on the other hand, its excitement and dynamism as it faces the future. Ghiora Aharoni Design Studio responded to these challenges with a design that features a 14-foot-high curved wall that runs along the perimeter of the northwest wall and projects into the theater lobby. The curve seems to split and wrap around the staircase cube. The curve, which serves as a digital canvas, represents the “Hearst Today” element of the exhibition. A forty-foot long exhibition case runs in front of the curved wall, and it displays artifacts from the Hearst history. The focal point of the space is the “Tree” a 28-foot high stainless steel wire mesh structure that presents a collage of publication front pages and other images that represent Hearst entities. The images are arranged chronologically, moving from historical images at the bottom to present-day images at the top.