An elongated, extruded octagonal design and one of Manhattan’s most prominent skyscrapers, the then Pan Am (now MetLife) Building served – although a collaborative design process – as one of the later and most sizeable architectural contributions with Walter Gropius at the helm. A massive International Style steel structure dotted with precast panels with mixed quartz, the building was embedded in popular culture after a helicopter crash atop its roof (the design famously included a helipad to serve as a luxe airport transfer) resulted in multiple deaths, one as a result of debris falling from the roof line.
Pan Am Building [1963]
Walter Gropius, Pietro Belluschi and Emery Roth & Sons
