Newsweek occupies new offices.

Newsweek Magazine took occupancy on April 19 of new offices at 251 West 571h Street designed by The Phillips Janson Group Architects. The newsweekly now occupies 9 floors of the 26-story office building, which was modernized and upgraded as part of the project. The 203,000 square-foot editorial, business and corporate offices relocated from the Newsweek Building at 444 Madison Avenue, the magazine's home of 35 years.

A large floorplate accommodates the magazine on fewer floors, allowing for greater ease of communication among departments. The irregular building footprint, which resembles the letter "H", has a high proportion of exterior window wall and permits a large number of windowed private offices. The building, the former General Motors headquarters, was selected after a lengthy search in which The Phillips Janson Group participated in the analysis and evaluation of prospective sites.

As in their former location, the magazine will remain a largely private-office intensive environment. The new space features a rationalized plan with a near-universal office size and configuration that is designed to offer functionality and privacy for tasks requiring private workspace. In the editorial departments, most tasks are performed on an ATEX computer system widely used in the publishing industry. To accommodate the large ATEX keyboards, The Phillips Janson Group designed a custom adjustable keyboard tray as part of the furniture system.

The plan developed by The Phillips Janson Group is comprised of frosted-glass enclosed private offices along the exterior window wall and open work stations and service and support areas along the building core. For group work and informal meetings, semi-enclosed conference/work areas are interspersed with the enclosed offices at strategic "nodes" within the grid plan.

The offices also include a photography lab, an extensive computer graphics area, and an employee cafeteria. A vintage wood paneled interior in the former General Motors executive offices was preserved for the magazine's executive dining area.

The Phillips Janson Group Architects, P.C., a 145-person New York-based architectural and interior design firm, has completed offices for a number of major magazine publishers, such as a 650,000 square-foot reconfiguration of the corporate and magazine groups for Time Warner Inc. within the Time & Life Building; the corporate and magazine offices of BPI Communications which occupy 120,000 square feet at 15 15 Broadway; and the offices of Wenner Media, which publishes Rolling Stone, Us. The Entertainment Magazine, Men's Journal and Family Life at 1290 Avenue of the Americas, all in New York City. Currently in progress are new corporate offices for Cowles Business Media in Stamford, Connecticut.