Hearst Gets Gold

Lord Norman Foster's double-helix Hearst tower turns out to be good for the environment: it cut the use of steel by 20 percent, and contributed towards the building's certification, long-anticipated and officially announced today, as a gold-level environmentally friendly building under standards from the U.S. Green Building Council. That makes it the second office building in New York to get certified, after 7 World Trade Center, which got a gold "core and shell" rating in March.