"The Theme Building - Los Angeles, CA" Waymark

Long Description:
The distinctive white building resembles a flying saucer that has landed on its four legs. It was designed by a team of architects and engineers headed by William Pereira and Charles Luckman, that also included Paul Williams and Welton Becket. The initial design of the building was created by James Langenheim, of the Pereira-Luckman firm. The restaurant was once a revolving restaurant which provided a rotating view of the urban area of the LAX airport and is suspended beneath two intersecting arches that form the legs. Like most of the few revolving restaurants built in the early 1960s, the huge cost of maintaining the revolving machinery forced the conversion to a conventional, stationary venue, so patrons no longer benefit from the once spectacular continuously changing view that could once be seen from the 360° windows of this unique structure.

The Los Angeles City Council designated the building a cultural and historical monument (no.570) in 1992. A $4 million renovation, with retro-futuristic interior and electric lighting designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, was completed before the "Encounter Restaurant" opened there in 1997. At one time, tourists and passengers were able to take the elevator up to the roof of the "Theme Building", but after the September 11 attacks, the rooftop was closed off to everyone for security reasons. It was once said the rooftop would reopen for public use, but that was determined to be a rumor.

The original design for the airport created by Pereira & Luckman in 1959 had all the terminal buildings and parking structures connected to a huge glass dome, which would serve as a central hub for traffic circulation. The plan was eventually scaled down considerably and the terminals were constructed elsewhere on the property. The Theme Building was subsequently built to mark the spot intended for the dome structure, as a reminder of the original plan.

The appearance of the building as a single homogenous structure is a cleverly constructed illusion. The building's two crossed arches actually consist of four steel-reinforced concrete legs that extend only as high as the restaurant, and a hollow,stucco-covered steel truss constituting the upper half.

The Encounter Restaurant was closed in March 2007 for repairs after a half-ton piece of the stucco skin on the upper arches crashed onto the roof of the restaurant, and reopened on November 12, 2007. Wiipedia

Type of Structure: Building Flying Saucer/Rocket Shape(s): yes Web Address or URL: [Web Link] Upswept Roof / Folded Plate Roof(s): Not Listed Large Dome(s): Not Listed Large Sheet Glass Window(s): Not Listed Boomerang and/or Arrow Shape(s): Not Listed Amoebae Shape(s): Not Listed Atomic Model(s): Not Listed Starburst(s): Not Listed Exposed Steel Beam(s): Not Listed If I knew, I'd be an architect: Not Listed Physical Address: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   10/3/2009 Queens Blessing visited it 6/21/2009 Go Boilers! visited it 5/9/2009 Team Ulogoit visited it 8/21/2008 pseudoprime wrote comment for it 8/17/2008 pseudoprime visited it 7/22/2008 saopaulo1 visited it 5/10/2003 ChapterhouseInc visited it

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