The building that changed New York & the World.
Does the name Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ring a bell? He's one of those German-American hybrids that just happened to be the final director of the Bauhaus, who fled to America to escape Nazism in the 1930s. There are many aspects of Mies character that made him unique, specifically the fact that he really cared, like really. He was a stickler for precision, visual symmetry & a master at coupling Aesthetics & Functionality.
It's his attention to detail & affinity for the specific that helped manifest his visions into magnificent timeless physical structures. His CV is rife with many achievements, but one of them stands out, a building that is the epitome of two main ideals that defined Mies approach, "Less is More" & "God is in the details".
Right smack in the middle of midtown east, a couple blocks away from the The Museum of Modern Art & snugly nestled on the corner of Park & 53rd, is the Seagram Building. Mies first tall office building, a 38-story wonder made of Steel, Glass and Raw American Muscle. One that shocked the city when it was unveiled & landed him on the cover of Life magazine shortly after. At first glance, it may seem quite commonplace to us looking at it now, but that's how visionary it was. Everything about the building was considered an anomaly at the time.
Completed in 1958 and towering at 515 feet tall -157 meters- is a building The New York Times rightfully called "New York's most copied building". As we approach the building we're greeted with a vast pink granite symmetrical plaza lush with pools and greenery. A Less is more outdoor plaza that featured significant "unused" open space at ground level, in stark contrast of that era where every inch of real estate was stuffed to the fullest extent. It also contains a concealed heating system that prevents ice build-up. The Plaza leads up to a lobby that acts as an extension to the vast plaza, virtue signalling without words "Outside and inside are simply the same."
The facade of the Seagram, a clean simple geometrical structure, covered in steel & glass, 1700 tonnes of bronze & walls made only of windows. A design detail that ushered in a new era of architectural transparency. Another radical aspect was the unique suspended second floor of the building. The facade also avoids any visual irregularity with blinds designed with slats angled at 45 degree positions, which offers three standard positions, fully open, halfway open or fully closed.
In sea of brick & stone, the Seagram graced New York with its' modernist steel & glass bare bones approach that embraces transparency and open spaces. It went on to change the landscape of not only Manhattan, but of business districts across the globe. Architect Gino Pollini refers to it as "A masterpiece of functional and aesthetic architecture". Now, when you get an Italian Designer admiring German-American Design, you know you're looking at something really special indeed.
