One of the first things that struck me on my visit to Grand Central was the lighting. Though the ceiling consisted only of a few small lights scattered throughout the mural of constellations, the area was still very well-lit with multiple different types of lighting. Globes of lights lined the arched openings of the walls and smaller very uniform lights lined their tops, in a perfect row wrapping around the entire open area. Each information and ticket center is equipped with its own set of lights and accompanied by a large lit information board. When I went it was dark, so the windows did not provide light, but to me they are still the most magnificent addition, as they catch your eye right away and help to lead it up to the decorated ceiling. People are rushing past and everyone seems to know where they are going in the hub of the station, hurrying to get to where they are going or to find out more information. Though most everyone is participating in a conversation of their own, it somehow is not overwhelmingly loud and not very hard to ignore. Most everyone is dressed in black heavy winter attire, which made one man in particular dressed in bright red and green stand out to me. I ventured down into the lower level, where the noise was much more concentrated, yet still not the most prominent, the most prominent was the smell. Restaurants and dining areas line all four walls and create a mix of smells from coffee to burgers and fries. The arches on the lower level are adorned with eye-catching sculptural elements. The upper area is full of shops, and is very bright, each shop seeming very inviting. One area of the station was designated to selling books, a simple open area with shelves people could walk through, that was quieter than the rest and smelled of book pages. The lighting of grand central station must have been researched a lot, due to its success and ability to seamlessly transition from night into day even with such large windows, something that would usually be a dead giveaway. The layout must have been researched in detail as well, as it is each to find platforms yet they are out of the way of those in the area for other reasons, as to not be a distraction. The entirety of the layout is well designed in that everything circulates and brings you around to different areas of interest, allowing the station to be a place easy to spend a lot of time in.