Capitol Records: Engineering an Icon

Although evocative of a stack of records on a turntable, the form of the 1956 Capitol Records building—the first circular office tower in the world—was actually designed to maximize usable work space and minimize construction materials and heating and cooling costs. The iconic structure’s underground floors feature the earliest studios created for high-fidelity recording. Their legendary reverberation chambers have served as musical laboratories for artists including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and the Beach Boys.

by National Building Museum