Beacons of Modernity
Since the mid ‘50s, L.A.’s cultural buildings had been promoted as a means
to punctuate the city’s wide horizon with symbols of a new sophistication.
Diniz therefore depicts Welton Becket’s unbuilt Theme Building, left, for
Century City (1963), which its developers described as “both cultural center
and landmark,” as a shining beacon of light, and he presents Cesar Pelli’s
Pacific Design Center (1972–74) for the Victor Gruen planning firm — the
first of three massive showrooms built on the flat edges of Beverly Hills — with
heightened perspective, capturing the impression of a skyscraper on its side,
its vast horizontal lines anchoring a great plaza that sets it off from the street.
Above Carlos Diniz, Pacific Design Center, Melrose Elevation, 1973. Cesar Pelli
for Gruen Associates, architect. Ink on vellum.
Below Carlos Diniz, Theme Building, Century City, 1963. Welton Becket,
architect. Ink on vellum.
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