Contributed by Ian Moores. 15/08/07

Contributed by Ian. 15/08/07

The Malin house or ‘chemosphere’ is looking more and more 21st century than 20th these days. Lautner spent much of his career in obscurity. His innovations and organic interpretation of modernism was out of kilter with the starker rationalist forms and cooler modernism of the time. He was largely written off as an undisciplined Californian architect who would not secumb to the rigors of conventional thought. Obviously influenced by his mentor Frank Lloyd Wright, the flowing forms he created were routed in nature and the organic.

I love the optimism and exuberance of houses like Silvertop 1956 and the Arango residence, Acapulco.

The Malin house sits on a 45 degree slope thought to be ‘unbuildable’. Lautner proposed a concrete pestedal approximately 2 in diameter on which the circular form would sit hovering above the hillside like a UFO.

Centrally there is an exposed brick fireplace with perimeter seating surrounding. Living accommodation is divided into public and private. The house is entered via a funicular link connecting the living space to the hillside below. In contrast the living space then has open views over the San Fernando Valley. Bedrooms and bathrooms occupy the side nearest to the slope and focus on the immediate nature and wildlife of the hillside. The building has withstood earthquake and floods.

The form, both the supporting column and the octagonal plan, was derived from a combination of pragmatism and a feeling for the overall elegance of the solution.