Masterfully simple, the seven-story IBM Building was a distinct design solution for a specific place and purpose. The systematic, repetitious pattern of its precast-concrete grille expresses IBM's leadership role in the keypunch card–based computer industry of that time and protects the building's floor-to-ceiling windows from the sun. The short sides of the grille's hexagons were set at an angle to prevent birds from nesting on them and to allow water to run off in a self-cleaning manner.