The World of Syd Mead

WHAT WILL LOS ANGELES really look like in 25 years? Visual futurist Syd Mead imagines a city characterized by clean lines and high buildings--a crowded, busy place with sleek transportation tubes and few architectural remnants of the 20th Century. Mead’s bleak, decaying set design for “Blade Runner” is his best-known portrayal of the future Los Angeles. He’s also contributed to such forward-looking films as “TRON,” “2010,” “Short Circuit” and “Aliens.” The illustrations on these pages were designed for a never-produced CBS series called “LA 15.” Mead works from his knowledge of technology to ensure that the results aren’t too farfetched: “If the images aren’t believable, audiences won’t relate to them,” he says.