William L. Pereira

William Pereira was a legendary architect who was highly inflential in the shaping of Orange County, California. Perhaps best known for designing the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, his greatest achievement lies in what was his pet project for the latter half of his life - the master planning of the Irvine Ranch in central Orange County. Development of the Irvine Ranch as per Pereira's master plan began in the early 1960s with the construction of the University of California at Irvine. Pereira's buildings at UCI featured unusual concrete-formed exteriors with three-dimensional tessellating patterns. UCI's initial buildings were so unique that the film Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) was filmed there, with the campus doubling as Ape City (with the help of the occasional matte painting). Pereira also left his unique touch on other campuses, most notably with his library building at UC San Diego, now known as the Geisel Library. Pereira was a friend of Walt and Roy Disney, and he designed some of the original hotels surrounding Disneyland, including the Disneyland Hotel itself. William Pereira was an architectural genius who has left a lasting impression on every square inch of ground he has built on.