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Up with Puzzlement. The end result required some 500 staff conferences between Wilde and Bunshaft. Recalls Wilde "I admit I asked Gordon plaintively if there could be any compromise. I'd have loved a fireplace! Well, I have a magnificent office in plain taste." A $100,000 mock-up section was thrown up by Turner Construction Co., and everything, from Linotile to venetian-blind drawstrings, wa tried on it. To reduce heat, a new green-tinted glass was used. To break up space, new movable paneling was developed. To keep maintenance cost low, dark grey Quincy granite (12,000 sq. ft.) was used around the base, Vermont white marble (6,000 sq. ft.) to sheathe exterior columns. Aluminum skin was specially anodized for weather resistance.
A swarm of landscape gardeners and foresters came in, built an artificial lake to highlight the building. To adorn the setting Sculptor Noguchi chiseled a brooding group of druidical forms, which President Wilde likes but frankly calls "a puzzlement." For the interiors, pert, petite Florence Knoll of Knoll Associates furnished new chairs and desks designed to help tradition-bound insurance executives relax in 12-ft.-by-12-ft. offices surrounded by chrome and bold, cheery fabrics.
With the building occupied ahead of dedication and the 2,000 employees purring with content at twelve bowling alleys, beauty and barber shops, card rooms, general store, lending library and ping-pong tables, President Wilde found hirings up 70%, turnover down 20%. And from Architect Bunshaft, already applying the hard-won discoveries on half a dozen even newer buildings, there was a satisfied, "I think this is the best job we've done. The big thrill is to see a dream happen."