Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels is defined by its massive, deconstructivist concrete form that lacks almost any right angles. Designed by the Spanish architect Rafael Moneo and dedicated in two thousand two, the building occupies a five point six acre site between Temple Street and the Hollywood Freeway. Its exterior color evokes the sun-baked adobe of early California missions, and the entire structure rests on one hundred ninety-eight base isolators, which are engineered to allow the cathedral to float up to twenty-seven inches during an earthquake.