MetLife Building
Form
### Form

The [massing](/wiki/Massing "Massing") consists of a base and an octagonal tower. Contemporary sources describe the base as measuring nine stories tall, atop which rises 50 tower stories. However, the [Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat](/wiki/Council_on_Tall_Buildings_and_Urban_Habitat "Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat") gives a conflicting measurement of 10 base stories and 49 tower stories. Exterior planted areas were planned for the sidewalks and above the roof of the base.

The tower stories' floor plates are designed in an elongated octagonal lozenge, with the longer axis running parallel to 45th Street. The north and south [facades](/wiki/Facade "Facade") are divided into three broad segments, while the west and east facades are one segment each. The building's form may have been influenced by the 1961 Zoning Resolution, a major change to New York City [zoning](/wiki/Zoning "Zoning") code that was proposed just before construction started. The massing is similar to [Le Corbusier](/wiki/Le_Corbusier "Le Corbusier")'s unbuilt tower in [Algiers](/wiki/Algiers "Algiers"), proposed between 1938 and 1942, as well as the nearly contemporary [Pirelli Tower](/wiki/Pirelli_Tower "Pirelli Tower") in [Milan](/wiki/Milan "Milan") (completed in 1958\). The architects intended for the octagonal shape and exterior [curtain wall](/wiki/Curtain_wall_%28architecture%29 "Curtain wall (architecture)") to reduce the building's perceived sense of scale.


What is the massing of the building?