One year ago: Pierre Cabrol

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Pierre Cabrol was a French-born architect with Welton Becket & Associates who was the lead designer for the Cinerama Dome, the landmark theater now operated by ArcLight.

The Sunset Boulevard theater, completed in 1963, was based on the geodesic dome concept conceived by architect R. Buckminster Fuller. But instead of using the typical aluminum or glass, the Cinerama Dome is the only one made of concrete.

The theater has 316 interlocking hexagons that form its dome shell and can accomodate more than 800 guests who view an 86-by-32-foot curved screen.

Cabrol also was the lead designer on other significant projects by Welton Becket, including the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA, the General Electric Pavilion at the 1964 New York World’s Fair and the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville.

After 30 years with the firm, Cabrol retired from Welton Brecket and worked independently as an architect and landscape architect from 1988 to 1995.

For more, read Pierre Cabrol’s obituary by The Times, and see a 1963 photo of the Cinerama dome being constructed.

--Michael Farr