When Mies accepted the Seagram commission, he had a reputation for not taking the environmental context of his projects into consideration. Rather, he would design buildings that were independent from (read: superior to) their surroundings. With the Seagram project, however, Mies couldn't have strayed farther from his rep. He built a cardboard model of Park Avenue from 46th Street to 57th Street and studied it endlessly, contemplating how his creation could blend, enhance, or even obfuscate the midtown environs.