Chemosphere
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Chemosphere, built by American architect John Lautner in 1960, is an innovative Modernist residence in Los Angeles, California.
The building stands on the San Fernando Valley side of the Hollywood Hills. It is a one story octagon with around 2200 square feet (200m2) of living space. Most distinctively, the house is perched atop a concrete pole nearly thirty feet high and five feet in diameter.
This innovative design was Lautner's solution to a site that, with a slope of 45 degrees, was practically unbuildable. The lot had been given to a young aerospace engineer by his father; despite his own limited means, the engineer, Leonard Malin, was determined to live there.
The building, which the Encyclopædia Britannica once called "the most modern home built in the world," is admired both for the ingenuity of its solution to the problem of the site and for its unique design. Since 2000, it has been the Los Angeles home of Benedikt Taschen of German book publisher company, Taschen.
The building is used as a residence in the film Body Double. A set for a scene in Charlie's Angels was based directly on the Chemosphere. A similar building also appears in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas near the "VINEWOOD" sign. In an episode of The Simpsons, character Troy McClure resides in a similar flying saucer-shaped home.
