Correction: Your own personal Crystal Cathedral

Blogger's note: As pointed out by commenter Ken McKenna, the original item as published was incorrect. Eli Attia was not the architect of the Crystal Cathedral; he was chief of design at the architectural firm Johnson/Burgee Architects (Philip Johnson's firm), which designed the cathedral. The corrected item follows, with the original language crossed out -- to avoid the appearance that the mistake is being hidden.

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Frivolous, yes, but it's Friday: Architect Eli Attia, who designed the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County, who worked with legendary architect Philip Johnson on the design of the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County, is building this "Roundhouse" in Beverly Hills, a prototype for an energy-efficient, glass-and-steel, flat-roofed home.

This is one of the more expensive spec houses you will find: The 15,000-square-foot home, not yet built, is on the market for $16 million. Publicity materials describe the house as "a three-story home with balconies to the south to take advantage of the long, panoramic sunrise-to-sunset view...."

More: The design "represents fundamental advances in homebuilding in the critical areas of environmental impact, construction efficiency, user experience and replicability."

Attia maintains that the average wood-framed American home requires clear-cutting an acre of woodland, and that building construction produces 25% of America's solid waste. He also argues that the first freestanding structures built by man more than 20,000 years ago ... (wait for it...) incorporated round floor plans.

Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.
Photo Credit: Roundhouse Development

Comments

[Sean Burke]

I'd be interested to see his justification for the claim that construction produces 25% of solid waste.

It seems high by a factor of five.

[Inq]

Somehow glass, steel and energy efficient do not seem to go together. How much to A/C this monstrosity in the summer?

[Robert S. Hoover]

"Attia maintains the average wood-framed American home requires clear-cutting an acre of woodland..."

This person knows even less about forests than he does about homes.

[Ford]

For Inq and everyone's info, like the Crystal Cathedral, in Orange County, Roundhouse doesn't use HVAC. It air conditions itself. This is a green technology breakthrough. The design technique can be scaled to nearly any size home, not just large ones. Concrete (sand and gravel), glass (recycled glass) and steel (also a recycled comodity) boost durability as well as save non-revewable resources.

[ChrisL]

I wonder how much energy went into manufacturing all that fancy glass and steel. Wood production is 100% solar-powered.

[Chris]

Mr. Fuller's "round floor plan with curved roof" still beats all, IMHO, accomplishing the same ends, and looks way cool at that!

[Michael Snyder]

Eli Attia either got his environmental numbers from Hillary Clinton or a roll of the dice. Either way his pitch has a note of desperation.
Being from Oregon I can assure you there is more than enough lumber in an acre of lodgepole pine to build several 2,000 sq. ft. homes. Nobody clear-cuts any more and as a contractor I can assure you any builder that waste materials like Eli implies would be out of business before they finished their first project.
He also failed to mention these first structures were essentially tee-pees covered in hides and grasses and pie shaped rooms are as inefficient as the land utilization of his design.
Maybe Paris will go for it; that way she can't be "cornered" in her own home...

[Aaron]

oh don't worry some rich member of the elite will buy it and tell you to consume less. People wake up GW is hoax to control mankind. If Al Gore believed in what he preaches he wouldn't buy homes all over the country and world. Including homes on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Did Gandhi kill Muslims during the partitioning of India? Did MLK Jr respond to the white power structure of the south with violence? Did Mother Theresa rob banks to help the poor? Don't forgot Gore studied media, particularly television media, extensively in college. He is a master of propaganda. Look at this house, the architect attempts to make it sound green, as if this type of consumption could be justified by anyone who considers him/herself green.

[Whatdaheck]

It doesn't seem like this guy is fooling too many people. Glass has an insulation value of about one fifth of a two by six wall with proper insulation. Steel and glass production uses a huge amount of energy to produce whereas wood is carbon neutral. If you want to be environmentally conscious try living in a home that isn't bigger than a football stadium.

[Ken McKenna]

"Attia, who designed the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County..."

What the heck is that all about? Attia was an employee of the firm of world-famous architect Philip Johnson when that firm designed the main sanctuary building of the Crystal Cathedral. Johnson was the main architect, and at most Attia can be said to have done much of the design work on the CC performed by Johnson's firm. To say that Attia flat out "designed the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County" is just false, and grossly unfair to Philip Johnson. Yes, Attia makes this claim on his web site, for example. But that is not to his credit. Shame on you for adopting this claim uncritically. Shame. Shame.

[DILBERT DOGBERT]

A monument to extravagance! At least it is smaller than the 20,000 sq ft Tuscan Villa of friends of ours in Los Altos Hills. The Tuscan Villa at least is very nice looking. This glass thingy is a blot on the visual environment.

[Pete Viles]

Ken McKenna wrote, "To say that Attia flat out "designed the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County" is just false, and grossly unfair to Philip Johnson."

Thanks, Ken. As Ed McMahon would say, "You are correct, sir." Please note the corrected version of the original post.

[Steve]

What a crock. Just like Shuller and the boys at Crystal Cathedral this is classic 80/20. 80%of what both Shuller and Attia say is BS and the other 20% might be close to the truth. Both of these structures are monuments to an oversized egos. How many millions is wasted on these structures when these chumps claim they are serving God and mankind. What a sham, and if you give a dime to either of these idiots you are a complete chump.

[Ben Brown]

It looks like a place a character similar to Cosmo from the movie "Sneakers" would live & work in to facilitate Dr. Frankenstein Inc. and the billion-dollar baby empire.

[Horizontal Translation]

We have seen the future -- and it is uuuuuuuuuuuugly. Imagine a whole subdivision full of these. On a positive note though, it will soon turn a nice off-white as the local pigeon population homes in on it.

[Ann]

It makes me want to take up tennis or golf again - maybe at, say, a distance of 100 ft from that hideous, hideous structure.

[Ben Brown]

"They Live" Headquarters.

[Charles Nickalopoulos]

I am trying to figure out why I read about the glass house.
But guess the residents do not throw stones.