it was a picture both unattractive and beautiful at the same time : ugly was the detail of the work ; the old and rusting machinery ; the cold , wet concrete , laying over equally characterless steel girders ; the hard faces of the sweating , busy men : beautiful was the whole ; the elegant structure , rising ever steadily upwards ; the view of the river and the wide squares of the city from the dizzying heights of the seventy third floor , where they were currently engaged in laying a concrete floor over a bed of steel ; the wind on his face rushing through the open holes in the side of the building , making him feel connected not only with the construction project but with the space beyond .