The façade of a building is the first thing we see and talk about when we are observing a building. The methodology has change over time, but some buildings stick with the same characteristics of a style and added their own taste. Lever house and Seagram building share similar things but they are different.

It was hard to observe the façade of Lever house because we were standing very close, but it gives us a chance to see details that can only be visible up close. Such as the window molean that is sitting in front of the column is extruded father. The corners of the building don’t come together to form a sharp edge. The structural grids are not symmetrical. We can tell there are two part of the building, top and bottom. It has a courtyard, and from there we can see different color of the glass panels. The darker green panels are used to block off the ceiling, giving us the illusion that the ceiling doesn’t exist.

Seagram building sits right across the Lever house, making it easy for me to observe both buildings. Both of the buildings have a glass box entry area. Instead of courtyard, Seagram has a public square. The I-beam on the façade that act as a molean, sticks out everywhere unlike Lever house’s. Seagram also have panels that block off the ceiling. The glass panels are dark orange, combining with the black paints, it gives the building a dark theme. Symmetry is everywhere in the building, even the ceiling tile and floor tiles that extend out to the public square.

Because of the area that the buildings are sitting, they are very similar and some buildings are purposefully built by imitating the existing buildings. The neighbor buildings of the Seagram and Leaver house are good examples of building by imitating the existing buildings.