The Uncommon Man
Maverick architect John Lautner never copied anybody, even himself. Three very different buildings by the genius student of Frank Lloyd Wright grace Orange County.

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Los Angeles Times, Orange County Edition, March 6, 1999

(Exerpts only)

Architecture aficionados revere John Lautner for his flying saucer-shaped Chemosphere in the Hollywood Hills, his seminal Googie's coffee shop on Sunset Strip, the expansive Bob Hope home in Palm Desert and the elegant, imaginative Arango residence above Acapulco.

Few are aware that the Los Angeles-based Lautner (1911-94), Frank Lloyd Wright's finest student and lifelong friend, designed three structures in Orange County. You can see Wright's influence at Alto Capistrano, which now houses the Museum of Architecture. But Lautner was a genius, well, in his own Wright, in no sense derivative.

"Lautner never copied Wright," said West Hollywood-based Helena Arahuete, Lautner's only associate architect. "He never even copied himself"...

The maverick architect's three local designs--Alto Capistrano, originally headquarters for a planned community in San Juan Capistrano that otherwise remained unbuilt, and homes in Laguna Beach and Balboa--couldn't be more strikingly different.

The Emerald Bay [Berns-Jordan] home seems to be all angles, the Balboa [Rawlins] residence all curves. Alto Capistrano uses a hexagonal motif. When each was designed may have something to do with the differences--they represent successive decades from the 1960s to the '80s. But, according to Arahuete, the demands of the site, and of his clients, played a far more important role.

"Lautner would have a lengthy first meeting with a client to determine not only the project needs but also the personal sensibilities, the individual preferences," Arahuete said. "Some people feel more comfortable with curved sheltering shapes, others with very elegant, simple, angular shapes."

Within those shapes, the Michigan-born Lautner pushed technology to the limits: He first used frameless glass with clear silicone sealant in the 1950s; his Orange County structures incorporate concrete extensively.