Zoning effects on the density of tall buildings and solar design may raise ethical challenge. A combined project of old and new buildings may bring back human scale to our cities. Owners and conceptual designers will be challenged in the 1980s to produce economically sound, people-oriented buildings.
In 1980 the Level House, designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merril1 (SOM) received the 25-year award from the American Institute of Architects “in recognition of architectural design of enduring significance”. This award is given once a year for a building between 25and 35 years old .Lewis Mumford described the Lever House as “the first office building in which modern materials, modern construction, modern functions have been combined with a modern plan”. At the time, this daring concept could only be achieved by visionary men like Gordon Bunshaft , the designer , and Charles Luckman , the owner and then-president of Lever Brothers . The project also included a few “first” : (1) it was the first sealed glass tower ever built ; (2) it was the first office building designed by SOM ;and (3) it was the first office building on Park Avenue to omit retail space on the first floor. Today, after hundreds of look-alike and variations on the grid design, we have reached what may be the epitome of tall building

區(qū)域規(guī)劃對高層建筑物的密度和對自然采光設計可能引起道德問題將產(chǎn)生影響。能源的有限性將繼續(xù)成為建筑設計面臨的獨特挑戰(zhàn)。新老建筑的結合將會給我們的城市帶來人情味。要設計建造出經(jīng)濟實用，以人為本的建筑物，將會是業(yè)主和概念設計師在20世紀80年代面臨的挑戰(zhàn)。
1980年欲斯柯摩爾、奧英斯和米瑞爾（SOM）設計的萊弗公寓獲得了美國建筑師協(xié)會授予的25年獎“以獎勵具有深遠意義的優(yōu)秀建筑設計”。這響獎每年授予一座房齡在25~35年之間的建筑物。用劉易斯.芒福德的話來說萊弗公寓是“第一座集現(xiàn)代材料、現(xiàn)代施工、現(xiàn)代功能與現(xiàn)代設計方案為一體的辦公樓”。在當時，這樣大膽的構思只有像設計師戈登.邦沙福特和業(yè)主—萊弗兄弟公司當時的總裁查爾斯.盧克曼那樣富于幻想的人才能創(chuàng)造出來了。而且，這項工程包含了幾個”第一”：（1）它是第一座全封閉的玻璃大廈；（2）它是SOM三人合作設計的第一棟辦公樓；（3）它是公園大街第一座一層樓不設零售商場的辦公樓。今天，經(jīng)過眾多外觀相似而柱網(wǎng)變化的設計，我們已難以對建筑物進行歸類，這也許是高層建筑設計的縮影。除了最近竣工的幾棟低層樓房似乎比較怡人外，在我們的