Making a Street: Forget About Logos On the Skyline

By Paul Goldberger
Published: January 24, 1993

Building as object, building as icon: that was the mode corporate architecture favored in the 1980's, when the goal of every company indulging in the act of construction seemed to be to end up with a trademark on the skyline. The most important criterion for judging a building's success as a symbol of corporate aspirations in that extravagant decade was not whether it functioned well, or whether it contributed anything to its surroundings, but whether it looked strikingly different and created an easily identifiable form. ...


A version of this review appeared in print on January 24, 1993, on page 230 of the New York edition. The online article corrected an omission of the printed article, and omitted a photo of the ABC buildings on West 66th street in Manhattan.