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The CTU Los Angeles building in West Los Angeles was the office of the Counter Terrorist Unit's Los Angeles domestic unit. It was designed to maximize the efficiency and efficaciousness of combating terrorists for a highly-trained corps of agents and analysts. ("Day 1: 5:00am-6:00am", "Day 2: 9:00am-10:00am")
Following Day 3, the agency relocated to a second building in an undisclosed location, where it remained for several years. ("Day 4: 7:00am-8:00am", 24: The Ultimate Guide)
Original building[]
The exterior of CTU Los Angeles at the beginning of Day 1
The main floor during Day 1
The original CTU Los Angeles building was located in the Westside of Los Angeles. It was based around a large room known as the main floor, containing many desks for analysts, with offices and a walkway on a higher level. The lower level was also home to the conference room and linked to the holding rooms. On the upper level, a metal walkway connected the Director's office with several other offices. The upper level linked with the bottom one via stairs.
CTU Los Angeles also had several Tech Rooms in the back corridors of the building, such as Internal Technical Support and Tech 3. Much of the complex was located underground, as the lift had lights for multiple floors and from the outside the building appeared to be only one story high. The building also had an underground parking lot.
Reconstruction[]
The CTU symbol displayed inside the building
During Day 2 the building was extensively bombed, and many areas were cordoned off. After this, it was placed under construction to restore it to functionality, and by Day 3 the building had been fully refurbished. Major changes to the layout included converting a walled off area of the main floor into the conference area, and opposite that installing a staircase upto the new field operations area on the second floor, including the Field ops office.
The conference room was redesigned with glass walls, and adjacent to that was another glass wall leading to the primary tech room, Tech 1, which was shielded from EMPs. This room was centered around a circular station with several monitors.
Annotated floor plans:
Second building[]
Exterior of the new CTU during Day 5
Sometime after Day 3, a new CTU Los Angeles building was used in a different, undisclosed location. The new building lost the metal look of its predecessor in favor of stone. The walls of the building were bare concrete, as were the steps. The windows were partially frosted, giving a "barcode" look and the desks in the main floor were red. A new logo was introduced at this time as well.
A new, more high-tech Situation room was created which featured a more sophisticated monitor, capable of visual communication. The back wall of the situation room was fake and lead through to a ventilation room. The renovated CTU Los Angeles had a new communication system, used to save time and effort. A VoIP system at each desk allowed agents to contact each other without moving across to the recipient, a system which could save vital seconds in an emergency.
Floorplan of the CTU LA building
The new Holding rooms were much more sophisticated with equipment added to discover the reactions of the people being interviewed. The rooms had two sections; the first had computers and monitors, which looked into the second room through a one-way mirror. The main room was bare and had just a table and chairs.
Some areas of the building were able to be fully sealed in case of a biological attack in order to protect staff until the building was decontaminated. Some of these areas included the Situation Room, the offices on the upper level, the Holding Rooms and the medical clinic.
Key locations[]
- CTU main floor - A largely open floor with workstations for the analysts, also known as the Bullpen or the Mission Center.
- Director's office - The office of the CTU Director, located on the floor above the main floor, gave the Director a vantage point overlooking the analysts.
- Situation room - Room used for all important meetings. Since Day 4 was equipped with large monitors and handsfree phones.
- Field ops office - The office of the Director of Field Operations. It was close to the front door on the upper level of the main floor.
- Medical - Where injured agents, suspects, and witnesses were given treatment for injury.
- Forensics - Where post mortems were carried out.
- Server room - Where CTU's main server was kept.
- CTU armory - Contained assault rifles and ammunition, body armor, and first aid kits.
- CTU panic room - The panic room, into which Michelle Dessler and Kim Bauer fled after the building was raided.
- CTU bathroom - The toilet facilities.
Background information and notes[]
- A CTU Los Angeles building appeared in every episode of Day 1-6 of 24, as well as The Game, The Rookie and most of the novels.
- The original building was, in reality, an office of Fox Interactive Media, located at 1925 South Bundy Drive, which was used for filming in the pilot episode. The building across the parking lot with the satellite dishes on the roof was the Fox Television Center. CTU's interior was later reconstructed on a set when the series was picked up by Fox, but the exterior continued to be used in episodes 2, 3, 6, 7, and 14 of Season 1.
- In Day 2: 10:00am-11:00am, Eddie and his men watch the explosion at the CTU building from under the East 1st Street Bridge, looking towards Downtown LA. The building seems to be located somewhere on East 1st Street in this episode.