Theme Building, Los Angeles International Airport

Detail, circular screen wall made with pierced concrete block in a Mid-century Modern pattern filters light and casts shadows on the interior courtyard; The Theme Building is an iconic landmark structure at the Los Angeles International Airport. It is an example of the Mid-Century modern influenced design school known as "Googie" or "Populuxe." The distinctive white building resembles a flying saucer that has landed on its four legs. The appearance of the building as a single homogeneous structure is a constructed illusion. The building's two crossed arches actually consist of four steel-reinforced concrete legs that extend approximately 15 feet above the ground, and a hollow, stucco-covered steel truss constituting the remaining lower arches and entire upper arches. To avoid changing the appearance of the structure with overt reinforcement, the Theme Building was retrofitted with a tuned mass damper to counteract earthquakes. The Theme building is an observation tower (at the 68 ft. level); it once had a revolving (later stationary) restaurant below, but this is currently closed. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 8/30/2015