As people living in the city sometimes we forget to observe our surroundings due to the rapid pace environment NYC demands. We often overlook things and as a result we don’t appreciate them. For instance, architecture in the city; sometimes we may recognize an edifice is beautiful but we won’t try to understand why or why not it’s aesthetically pleasing.

The exterior skin of a building is the first that you observe while you walk pass it or while you drive pass it. The skin is what intrigues the average person on whether they like the look of the structure or not. Many buildings in Midtown have this modernist international style look. Such as the Lever House, Seagram Building and United Nations. They skin for these buildings seem very lightweight compared to the concrete previous building had. All of the buildings I mentioned previously are rectilinear in their massing and often have a play with light since their facades are most commonly made of glass and steel. Although these buildings reach great heights they have this weightless feel to them. While personally standing in front of the Lever House you can observe the reach for superiority, while buildings like the Empire State may seem like structures and breaking out of the ground with their historic significance. The Lever House feels like a building that expresses the demand of stature. Another major observation is the lack or excessive ornamentation. I feel like the facade of these international style buildings becomes the ornament. For example on the Lever House the play of curtains each cell has gives the building a unique and different style every time you may visit it since there are people who will open the curtains while others may close them.