Companies penny pinch for Rockefeller's Harvest Field.

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An open, specially designed container spanning almost a full city block in the shadow of the world famous Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree will hold an estimated 100,000,000 pennies collected by children from 800 City schools throughout the five boroughs, says Kenneth Levien AIA, president of the project management company Levien & Co.

"The Penny Harvest Field, designed by noted architect James S. Polshek, Polshek Partnership Architects, and hosted by Tishman Speyer, is designed to serve as a public thank you to the children and to celebrate their generosity," says Teddy Gross, founder and executive director of Common Cents, a not-for-profit organization that seeks to nurture a new generation of caring, capable and informed citizens.

Penny Harvest was created 16 years ago as an outgrowth from one child's desire to feed the homeless. Every penny gathered by the children is also given away by the children in the form of grants and service projects benefitting over 850 community organizations throughout the City.

The 165 by 30-foot field was constructed off-site in sections, trucked to the City and installed over two nights.

"One of the biggest challenges facing the project was applying what we all knew about design and construction to a material we had all never worked with before--pennies. We had to make sure that the penny field would be able to hold 600,000 pounds of pennies without compromising the integrity of the street that is over an underground concourse" says Pamela Holzapfel, project manager for Levien & Company. "It was necessary to create a structure that would be able to support the weight of the pennies, account for the curvature of the street and install a drainage system to keep the pennies dry and sparkling for the length of the exhibition."

"Many times during the project I found myself telling Pare that I could not imagine accomplishing this massive project without her expertise and guidance," says Seth Cohen, Common Cents' national director of programs and operations.

Levien & Company, along with Polshek Partnership Architects, Weidlinger Associates, Inc. (structural engineers), StructureTone, Inc. (construction managers), LaPlaca Cohen (graphic design), Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, LLP (legal), and The Brink's Company, Con Edison, and General Contractors Association of New York, Inc. (logistics), all donated or discounted their fees for this very worthy cause. The project was sponsored by the Ford Foundation and Cole Haan.

The field is open to the public and is on view from Dec. 10 through Dec. 31, after which it will be disassembled and stored for future use.