General Services Administration has been trying to sell the Chet Holifield Federal Building (aka The Ziggurat) in Laguna Niguel, California. Starting bid was $70 and there weren’t any bidders. They’re now trying to figure out what went wrong and why no one bid.
Designed by William Pereira, who also designed or co-designed the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, the iconic “Theme Building” at Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CBS Television City, and the city of Irvine, California.
It had to have been brutal working in there. Over a million square feet of office space and only a handful of windows. It was featured prominently in the movie Death Race 2000 (1975). I do love dystopian architecture.
If the federal government no longer has a use for this building, I can’t imagine who might. I would hate working there with the endless hallways and thousands of cubicles illuminated by artificial fluorescent lights casting a sickly glow over the faceless bureaucrats who mindlessly show up for work each day to shuffle papers from one cubicle to the next.
I like how they’ve tried to soften it by adding a few green plants that seem to grow directly out of the concrete. The massive overhangs above the few windows let those inside see just enough daylight to ensure they’re depressed and miserable.
It’s too expensive to simply tear down, so it’ll likely sit for decades as it slowly decays.
I got to see this house in person a few years ago – just the outside from the street – and was quite taken with it. The inside looks fantastic — in my opinion, at least, fully recognizing this isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea.
