said he was influenced by the massing of the Seagram Building, also in Midtown. Ceramic rods There are about 186,000 ceramic rods in the building. The rods, measuring in diameter, are mounted about in front of the curtain wall and are carried on aluminum "combs". The rods are made of aluminum silicate, a ceramic chosen for its durability and cost-effectiveness. The rods are intended to deflect heat and glare even if the glass panes were not tinted, and they can change color with the sun and weather. The rod spacing increases from the base to the top, adding transparency for the top of the usable space. At each story, the rods contain a slight gap at eye level. The rods extend about above the primary roof. On the north and south elevations, the screens extend slightly past the notched corners. The ceramic rods also rise to , above the main roof. On the Eighth Avenue elevation is a sign with the logo of The New York Times, designed by Michael Bierut of Pentagram. Measuring long, the logo consists of the Times name in the Fraktur font at a 10,116-point size. The logo itself is made of 959 custom aluminum sleeves measuring about in diameter; these are wrapped around the ceramic rods. Metal halide lamps are also mounted on the facade in front of the rods. They are painted yellow to resemble the taxis of New York City. The ceramic rods have attracted climbers, in part because the rods were originally spaced closely together. Shortly after completion, in mid-2008, three men illegally and independently climbed the ceramic rods on the facade. On June 5, 2008, professional climber Alain Robert climbed the north elevation to protest global warming; a second climber (Rey Clarke) scaled the west elevation later that day. The third climber, a Connecticut man, scaled the building on July 9 to protest the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. As a result of these incidents, some of the ceramic rods were removed, particularly on the north and south elevations, and glass panels were installed to deter climbing. People still climbed the building in later years, including in 2012 and in 2020. Glass wall The glass curtain wall is composed of double-glazed low emissivity panels that extend from the floor to the ceiling of each story. The panels generally measure wide and tall. The use of floor-to-ceiling glass was meant to signify the transparency