The Seagram Building was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson. Completed in 1958, it stands at thirty-eight stories tall. Located in New York City, it was designed for the Canadian distillers Joseph E. Seagram’s & Sons. Its construction set the standard for skyscrapers in New York City. In 1961, New York City enacted a major revision to its 1916 Zoning Resolution, which was the United States’ first complete Zoning Resolution. It emulated the Seagram Building, offering incentives for developers to create privately owned public spaces. The Seagram is popular for its innovative techniques and use of the International Style, but this comes with a cost. The Seagram’s construction was the world’s most expensive skyscraper at the time, due to the materials (which were considered high quality at the time) and the use of bronze, travertine, and marble for the interior decoration. Next to the high costs, it has the worst energy rating of any building New York, at 3 of 100. The Seagram was built using the International Style, a style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s. The rectangular shape and the materials of glass and steel that gives a weightless quality from the use of cantilever construction are common with this style.
The gigantic glass curtain is one of the most prominent features, and it communicates the underlying frame. This style uses the “form follows function” mantra, as every business now uses this similar style, and the public understands what the function is. The glass curtain wall promotes productivity by letting in natural light, and the structure allowed it to be built quickly as well as There is maximize floor space. The glass used in this building is considered more “elegant” than other International Style buildings, because it utilized a “smoky” window, and was related to the upper-class. The window blinds are also a unique feature of the Seagram. Because Mies wanted the building to have a uniform appearance, he created window blinds that only operated fully open, halfway open/closed, or fully closed. This negated the irregularity that would come when the window blinds were drawn, and the appearance of blinds in different heights wouldn’t make the building look irregular. The area surrounding the building is also important, as it creates an urban open space for the public to gather
