AT&T Center

The AT&T Center is an International Style skyscraper designed by William Pereira & Associates, and built between 1962 and 1965 in Los Angeles, CA.

AT&T Center is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The AT&T Center is also known, or has been known as, USC Tower, Transamerica Tower, or Occidental Life Building.

Its precise street address is 1150 South Olive Street, Los Angeles, CA. You can also find it on the map here.

The building along with a second, 10-story building, make up what's known as South Park Center.

The building underwent a major restoration in 2008. The architect commissioned to undertake this restoration was Gensler.

William Pereira & Associates was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but at the very least we know that there was one other part involved, that was Brandow & Johnston in charge of Structural Engineering.

The AT&T Center can be categorized as an International Style building.

The AT&T Center was completed in 1965. By 1965 the International Style movement had already left its early days behind and could be considered a mature movement, which does not mean it was loved and accepted by everyone, on the contrary. The International Style was accepted by the architecture community way before it was by the general public, and it is therefore likely that the AT&T Center was not well received by everyone at the time.

The AT&T Center uses a frame structure made of steel columns and concrete slabs.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

The facade uses a non-load bearing curtain wall system. This means the curtain wall modules are anchored to the building's structural frame, typically by being attached to the edge of the floor slabs. The curtain wall system connects to the slabs using brackets, anchors, and mullions, which transfer the loads imposed by wind and temperature changes, to the building's primary structural elements.

This setup allows the curtain wall to accommodate differential movement between the facade and the structural frame, such as thermal expansion, floor deflection, or sway from wind forces. This system's integration with the slab edges also allows for continuous insulation and weatherproofing layers.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features a curtain wall with strong vertical elements that accentuate the building's height, while at the same time they create vertical shadows on the facade that add texture and depth to it.

Towards the top of the building we find a setback that also marks the end of the curtain wall. Above this setback, the last two floors feature a full glass curtain wall, and are adorned by what could be described as a reinterpretation of the gothic buttresses, which could be seen as an early sign of postmodernism.