In a city filled with enviable homes that are monuments to Hollywood egos, Steve Glenn wants you to have one just like his 2,530sqft, two-storey, three-bedroom spread.
The 42-year-old Californian businessman's new home in the hip Venice Beach section of Los Angeles is a prototype for LivingHomes, which designs and sells prefabricated houses designed by so-called starchitects and that are actually good for the environment. The price? About US$250 per square foot, which means Glenn's home costs about HK$4.9 million.
A successful internet entrepreneur with childhood aspirations to architecture and a love of Lego, Glenn traded in his Audi roadster for an energy-efficient Toyota Prius hybrid car like many other Californians. But for him it was just the beginning. 'I saw a market niche not being served. There are plenty of people who care about the environment, but live in structures not yet able to reflect that, beyond adding, say, some bamboo floors.'
A chance discussion about prefabrication with architect Ray Kappe led to an intense two-year gestation from idea to the 11 steel-frame modules installed in just eight hours on a gentle slope.
Kappe, who once worked with Nasa on the application of space technology to modular residential architecture, collaborated with Glenn to bring the same environmentally sensitive aesthetic of his celebrated 1965 Kappe House in nearby Pacific Palisades to Glenn's home, along with four semi-custom models that will range from US$150 to US$250 per square foot.
At present, 10 versions of Kappe's designs are under contract, offering features such as a moveable interior wall system 'so that homes can finally deal with people's changing lifestyle needs', says Glenn.
Scrutinising the striking edifice, with its warm cedar wood and cool concrete interspersed with floor-to-ceiling glass, Venice Beach resident Michelle Lee declares it 'yet another example of California creative genius' that has historically blossomed in this Pacific coastal neighbourhood.