Les tours de verre

This book is a testament to the birth of the glass towers in New York City and the way in which the great American architectural firms work or worked. Little known to the public, Bunshaft (1909-1990) was then director of the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill agency, signatory of the tower of which Mumford tells us: "Long after the Lever Tower had opened its doors, a multitude of people were waiting. still in long patient lines and insisted on entering. And he added: "This popular curiosity, which is also in a sense a popular judgment, is justified in many respects. That was in 1952. The real estate boom that followed the end of the war in 1945 made it all the rage; At least that's what Bunshaft, the designer of the tower, tells us, modestly. The fact that the exterior pillars are set back slightly from the facade making the windows a continuous envelope is probably also for a lot.

But, without any animosity, the author also tells us how the distribution of tasks was organized within the agency, much more "business" and much less "fine art" than what we were used to, especially in that time.