Disney New York City Headquarters

Disney’s new corporate NYC headquarters unites media production, streaming, business, and editorial support services, all under a vast canopy of SCAPE-designed green roofs and lush terraces. The project adds nearly an acre of elevated greenspace to a neighborhood lacking in canopy cover and planting.

The terraces provide flexibility and valuable worker amenities in a time of rapid shifts in office culture. They offer flexible spaces for working and relaxing, improve employee health through access to the outdoors, and blend the office into its urban context. In a callback to Hudson Square’s history as a Printing District in the 20th century, the modular terraces and planters were inspired by subdivided typesets found in historic printing presses around the area.

Larger terraces are designed as living micro-forests. Planting is intentionally layered and textured, incorporating low-growing grasses and perennials, medium and large-scale understory shrubs, and larger trees where possible given the constraints of a rooftop site. Lush plantings create an immersive experience and capture stormwater, exceeding the requirements for LEED certification. At the base of the building, a revamped streetscape adds tree canopy and urban shade to the Hudson Square neighborhood and complements retail amenities along the ground floor.

The design responds to the extreme solar and wind conditions of Manhattan’s rooftops. South, southeast, and west-facing terraces have high sun and wind exposure and feature layered coastal grasses and shrubs. North-facing terraces feature a variety of shrubs, trees, ferns, and grasses that are shade-tolerant and create a sense of enclosure. The project uses a mix of native and adapted species—more than half of the terraces feature a 95% native plant palette, with non-native species carefully chosen to adapt to extreme site conditions, anticipate shifts in climate, and provide visual diversity.

Above one of New York's densest urban blocks, paths throughout the terraces and nested seating areas frame iconic views of New York City.