Seagram building

New York, USA, 1958

Architect: Ludwig mies van der rohe
Client: seagram liquor company
Plot area: 2240 m2
Building footprint: 1120 m2
Gross floor area: 46.000 m2
Height: 157 m
Cost US$: 45 million
Lifts: 18
Satus: completed (1958)
Concept
Concept o the architect
The seagram building, build in 1956-58, is the only building in New York City designed by
architectural master Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Carefully related to the granite and marble plaza
on its Park Avenue site, the elegant curtain wall of bronze and tinted glass enfolds the first fully
modular modern office tower.
Mies located the thirty-eight story office tower, which occupies only fifty-two percent of the
entire site, 30 meters back from Park Avenue. Using the glass-enclosed lobby and raised tower,
and a slab marquee and continuous pavement (see floorplan), Mies provided the seagram
building with a unity between indoor and outdoor spaces. This, in addition to the monumental
spaces for a bar and restaurant located in the opposing wings behind the lobby, satisfied the
programs demand for a large public spaces on the ground story.
In this monumental simplicity, expressed structural frame and rational use of repeated building
elements, the building embodies Ludwig Mies van der Rohes philosophy that structure is
spiritual and less is more. He believed that the more a building was pared to its essential
structural and functional elements, and the less unnecessary imagery is used, the more a building
expresses its structure and form.
Evolutionary about the concept
The New York zoning law, forbidding a building to rise from the sidewalk without progressive
setbacks above a certain height due to sky exposure. The different approach of placing the
building further away from the streets stayed true to this law and created an open public square,
what made the seagram building one of a kind. It was the first evidence that architectural gain
had taken priority over economic return. It provided the citizens the possibility to get a clear look
of the building without having to cross the street. The plaza offers a welcome moment of spatial
relief in the repeated rhythm of the New York grid and was an prime example within the new
requested zoning law to implement public space with each new development.
Extra text explanation
That the architect put a lot of effort into detailing is clear from the distinctive Miesian corner
that goes up all 38 storeys. It is a method that express the primary structure and consists o a steal
column encased in fireproofing concrete and covered with bronze cladding. This type of corner-

detailing is a trademark of the international style, with Mies van der Rohe as one of the leading
figures. The faade consists of alternating bands of bronze plating and whisky brown-tinted
glass. Between the windows, there are vertical decorative bronze l-profiled beams attached to the
mullions to emphasize the vertical rise of the faade. Van der Rohe personally stated that this was
his only building in the united stated which met exactly his European standards.
Other details ensure an uniform appearance throughout the elevations. Each window contains a
Venetian blind which may be adjusted to only three levels (open, half-closed, and fully-closed)
and the angle of its slats is set at forty-five degrees so that during the day the exterior has a
harmonious composition.
Images
1. Aerial view of the site
2. Breaking the rhytm of the urban grid
3. Comparison of pedestrian views on a typical New York building and the Seagram
Building.
4. View from across the street
5. Simplicity of the building can be well seen during nighttime
6. Miesian corner
7. Horizontal detail of the faade
8. Internal blinds
9. Entrance lobby
Sources
Miesan van der Rohe, A Critical Blography by Franz Schulze (1989)
http://nyc-architecture.com/UES/UES002.htm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emilio_guer-ra/6013072329/
http://www.nyc.gov/html/history_project/his-tory_project2.shtml