"There are buildings in which the ground floor plan has been permitted to control the balance of the building. The result is not often fortunate and is frequently disastrous."
-William F Lamb, architect of the Empire State Building.
"The logic of the plan is very simple. A certain amount of space in the center, arranged as compactly as possible, contains the vertical circulation, toilets, shafts and corridors. Surrounding this is a perimeter of office space 28 feet deep. The sizes of the floors diminish as the elevators decrease in number. In essence, there is a pyramid of non-rentable space surrounded by a greater pyramid of rentable space."
- William Lamb, on his approach for the design of the Empire State Building.
