The Pacific Design Center

The Pacific Design Center, or PDC, is a multi-use facility with a design community located in West Hollywood, California, 1,600,000 square feet (150,000 m2). Because of its large size compared to surrounding buildings and its brilliant blue glass cladding one of the buildings is often described as the Blue Whale.

Site and Brief

The PDC houses the largest furniture and design market on the West Coast, with showrooms, public and private spaces, a branch of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) and two restaurants run by Wolfgang Puck, chef and restaurateur. The Center has 100 showrooms where 2,200 interior product lines are displayed and sold to professional interior designers, architects, facility managers, decorators, and dealers.

The Pacific Design Center holds various workshops, exhibits, seminars, forums, special events, and design, entertainment, and arts community receptions. The PDC’s traditionally held the annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Award Party. The party, as well as being a multimillion dollar fundraiser for the foundation, is one of the longest running and best known of the post-Oscar parties.

The interior of one floor of the Blue Whale, and the same building’s escalators, was heavily used as the Westworld TV series underground laboratory.

PDC Information

The award-winning Pacific Design Center is the West Coast’s leading center for traditional and modern home and contract furnishings, fabrics, floor coverings, architectural products, wall coverings, furniture, accessories for the kitchen and bathroom.

The 1.6 million square foot complex features approximately 100 boutiques to international showroom brands, featuring 2,200 product lines available to purchase from qualified interior designers, architects, facilities managers, decorators, and dealers.

Pacific Design Center also serves the needs of the communities of design, entertainment and the arts by providing dramatic public and private spaces for screenings, exhibitions, lectures, meetings, special events and receptions.

A first-class, multi-use facility, the Pacific Design Center features two restaurants (Design Cafe & Silver Bullet Express); the SilverScreen Theater, a state-of – the-art film venue and reception facility with 294 seats; the Conference Center, a fully equipped 200-seat facility for conferences and meetings, and a fitness center designed by Michael Graves.

The beautifully landscaped 14-acre campus, designed by architect Cesar Pelli, FAIA, is located in West Hollywood City, CA. The “Blue Whale” of the Pacific Design Center opened in 1975 at 750,000 square feet. Realizing the original vision of Pelli, the Green Building followed 450,000 square feet in 1988 and finally the Red Building 400,000 square feet in 2012, offering class A, creative office space for leading businesses, including entertainment, fashion, technology and the arts.