Wayout.picturemill/10″/mike1st/mark2nd
Picture Mill
Ad Agency
Hollywood
John Parkinson, the architect who designed L.A. City Hall, Bullock’s Wilshire, and other local landmarks, never would have envisioned the fate of his 1931 Art Deco-style edifice in Hollywood.
The building was originally designed as a branch office for Bank of America, but now serves as the home of Picture Mill, an agency that designs logos, advertising campaigns and titles for films put out by the major Hollywood studios. (Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios are among its clients.)
No signage obscures the original Art Deco fa & #231;ade, ribboned in black granite. The two-story building still is topped with a 95-foot-high tower that includes a 16-foot-tall glass-and-copper beacon, visible for blocks in every direction.
Once inside, however, the 1930s’ elegance gives way to an ultra-modern interior reminiscent of a carnival funhouse, with wildly sloping walls and bold sculpture-like adornments.
“You can’t stick people in a square, white building with no windows and expect them to be happy about it, and be creative,” said Picture Mill President Eric Ladd. “You get much better work out of people when they feel comfortable about their environment.”
Ladd said Picture Mill designed its digs solely with the aim to please its 35 employees, not to project an edgy image that would wow current or potential clients. “I have to go to work every day,” he noted, “and this is what I like.”
Among the more distinctive features are the windows punched through virtually all interior walls. That design filters light through from offices along the perimeter and into offices at the center of the building.
Some of the windows are typical squares and rectangles, but others are wild vertical slivers and other shapes. Josh Schweitzer, the interior designer, said the windows serve as a way for employees in all offices, especially those toward the building’s center, to feel unified.
“We wanted to maintain a connection there for employees, so there weren’t feelings of isolation,” said Schweitzer, who also has designed the Border Grill, Campanile and Ciudad.
Other distinctions are sculpture-like objects that jut out of the walls. Desktops and shelves extend out from other walls, unsupported by any base, with pink, purple, turquoise and orange iMacs on the working surfaces.
Some employees think Ladd has the best office of all: the bank’s former vault. While the door has been removed and there are no obvious signs of the office’s former use, it’s still cooler than anywhere else in the building.
Nola L. Sarkisian
