The fact that William L. Pereira (1909-85), the Los-Angeles-based architect is not as famous as he should have been outside of America, and the fact that his work has been overlooked by historians, demonstrate that architecture history has its own faults. Pereira designed some of the most iconic and futuristic buildings of the cold war years, where he invented extravagant forms, not always connected to their own function, but always innovative and fresh. During his five-decade career, he created such icons as the Transamerica Pyramid building in San Francisco; the futuristic Los Angeles International Airport Theme Building; the lantern-shaped UC San Diego Geisel Library; the Reno-Tahoe International Airport; and at one time, he was Frank Gehry’s boss when the later worked at Pereira & Luckman architectural firm. In fact during the 60s and 70s, he and his team completed no less than 250 projects. He shared an Academy Award for Best Special Effects for the action/adventure film Reap the Wild Wind of 1942; acted as the art director for “This Gun for Hire”, Alan Ladd’s first film; and was the production designer of the drama Jane Eyre of 1944. Here are some of the fascinating buildings by William L Pereira (above: UC San Diego’s Geisel Library).
