[Matt]

One of my favorite buildings in New York, if not the world. I remember watching this baby rise when I was working at 36th and 10th. This was back in 1998 or so, and I had an 18th floor view of the tower's construction. The internet was still in its "dial up" days, and renderings were hard to come by. Bottom line, I had no idea what this building's top would look like. All the sides of the building were different, and I kept imagining how they would "bring it all together" with the crown and/or spire. The suspense was killing me.

Every day I watched the progress, my imagination ran wild. Then, one day, the glass facade stopped rising with the steel framework... then it was just the steel framework - now setback - going up, leaving the glass behind. Slowly, the tower's spire began to emerge. Then it all made sense. I thought to myself, "absolutely incredible", and it was such a cutting edge design for its time. The building had a "Jekyl and Hyde" quality to it, appearing different from all angles. This was no boring generic glass box, there was no uniformity. The building was wild and untamed, a characteristic further defined by its open framework top. Oddball? You bet, but a crazy, exciting and futuristic addition to a city populated with boring carbon-copied international-style boxes. Yes, the framework spire did appear unfinished, but that sat well with me. Atlanta's BofA Tower has a see-through spire, and many buildings in Australia have open-framework spires. I still found this building to be simply stunning, a true masterpiece. And the advertising boards were just wacky... kinda tacky, but perfect for this tower and its location.

What I love about Conde Nast is that it has a personality all its own; a personality as complex as the many moods and attitudes of a human being. Viewing this tower from different angles makes me feel different vibes, my mood changes depending on what direction I view the tower from. The building has its professional side, its fun side, its depressing side, its aggressive side, its gentle side, its elegant side, and its blue-collar industrial side. Conde Nast emanates all of the varying moods and emotions of a human being. Conde Nast has a SOUL.