Mies van---------------------der Rohe

    As everything in the world becomes more and more Googleable, it's refreshing when you find something  non-Googleable.  Instant answers to every question have destroyed our sense of wonder.  This is why the cable strung between Mies van der Rohe's Lafayette Park towers is so intriguing.
     Is it left over from a tight-rope walker?  A communication line running between the elevator rooms?  A representation of his smile?  No doubt someone knows the real answer, but we should feel content not knowing.
     It's definitely counter-intuitive to apply Mies' "Less Is More" aesthetic to the world of knowledge; but sometimes a mystery is more compelling than the answer.  And really, the mystery here is why it was necessary to impede upon the clean lines of the towers, to mar the two structure's austere beauty with one black line in the minimalist sky.  It's hard to see the cable in photographs, it's best to view it in person. Once you know it's there though, you never look at the buildings the same way.

    

    The following quote is etched in the plaza to the south of the buildings:

"What finally is beauty? Certainly nothing that can be calculated or measured. It is always something imponderable, something that lies between things."

                                                                       -Mies van der Rohe