HYDE PARK, N.Y. — Crisp and white as a chef’s toque, the newest artwork at the Culinary Institute of America made its debut last month as the perfect backdrop for commencement snapshots. Graduates and family members almost instinctively posed before the mural, a sculptural mélange of food-related words and objects.

Nicholas Fasciano, 74, who watched the scene from a respectful distance, knew how unlikely such a happy ending had seemed a few years ago. He has been involved with the mural from its beginnings in the 1960s, when it was installed in the CBS building at 51 West 52nd Street, known as Black Rock for its somber granite exterior.

Throughout Black Rock, CBS sought an atmosphere of understated, pinpoint-perfect design. Every typographical element, down to the numbers on the elevator buttons, was scrutinized by Lou Dorfsman, the network’s creative director.