The Chemosphere, built by American architect John Lautner in 1960, is an innovative Modernist residence in Los Angeles, California. Jump to: navigation, search Architect at his drawing board, 1893 An architect, also known as a building designer, is a person involved in the planning, designing and oversight of a buildings construction, whose role is to guide decisions affecting those building aspects that are of aesthetic, cultural or social... John Lautner (16 July 1911 – 24 October 1994), influential American architect whose work in Southern California combines progressive engineering with humane design and dramatic space-age flair. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1960 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article focuses on the cultural movement labeled modernism or the modern movement. See also: Modernism (Roman Catholicism) or Modernist Christianity; Modernismo for specific art movement(s) in Spain and Catalonia. ... This article is about the largest city in California. ... Jump to: navigation, search State nickname: The Golden State Other U.S. States Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) Senators Dianne Feinstein (D) Barbara Boxer (D) Official languages English Area 410,000 km² (3rd)  - Land 404,298 km²  - Water 20,047 km² (4. ...

The building stands on the San Fernando Valley side of the Hollywood Hills. It is a one story octagon with around 2200 square feet of living space. Most distinctively, the house is perched atop a concrete pole nearly thirty feet high and five feet in diameter. Jump to: navigation, search San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley in southern California, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles. ... The Hollywood Hills, an unofficial designation of part of the City of Los Angeles, California, are part of the eastern section of the low transverse range of the Santa Monica Mountains, which extends from the Los Feliz District and Hollywood, on the south side of the Valley, to Pacific Coast...

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 Encyclopedia Brittanica 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 German publisher Benedikt Taschen. 1913 advertisement for the 11th edition, with the slogan When in doubt - look it up in the Encyclopædia Britannica The Encyclopædia Britannica (properly spelt with æ, the ae-ligature) is the oldest English-language general encyclopedia. ...