Sunday, May 15, 2011

My Visit to Pixar: The Almighty Atrium


The very first thing you see when you enter the Pixar studios is the atrium. As many people know, Steve Jobs designed the Pixar building, and when he was doing so, he wanted a place where all Pixar employees would be forced to go into this big, open space. This way, people could unexpectedly meet in the atrium, and have a nice meeting, and possibly solve a problem. As Chris Wiggum said, it is kind of impossible to go through a day at Pixar without entering the atrium.

The atrium holds many important rooms at Pixar. These include the Luxo Cafe, where Pixarians often eat, the Mail Room, where a couple of my handwritten letters have arrived in the past, the Studio Store, where there are loads of awesome and exclusive Pixar merchandise, and of course, the very famous Cereal Bar. There is even a game room! The atrium also holds several Pixar monuments and decorations, and an awards case for all the awards that Pixar films win. However, the only Oscar missing in the case was the one that Lee Unkrich won back in February. Right now, the atrium is flooded with Cars 2 retro posters and concept art. Some decorations that are usually stationed in the atrium year-round are statues of Mike and Sulley, Luigi and Guido, and the Toy Story Aliens, as well as LEGO statues of Woody and Buzz, which were added last year to celebrate the release of TS3.

Below are some pictures and a video I took while I was in the Almighty Atrium, which was very, very cool.



Some Pixarians sit on the couch reading beside Luigi and Guido, with  the awards case and Cars 2 concept art in the background

Cars 2 concept art on display

 The Pixar Game Room, where Pixarians can come and chill out. It includes air hockey, Foosball, and the TVs in the background are for playing the Toy Story 3 video game.

At the entrance, Mike and Sulley from Monsters, Inc. and Luigi and Guido from Cars give you a warm welcome.

Statues of Woody and Buzz made entirely of LEGO stand by the front desk.

The cute three-eyed Aliens from the Toy Story franchise look happy to be at Pixar.

The Cars 2 triptych is on display in the atrium as well.

No comments: