Ambivalent House: Is this the home of the future?
Futuristic, otherworldly orb wins architecture competition to design a house to sit underneath the famed Hollywood sign

It looks like an alien spacecraft or a meteor crashed into the hills of Los Angeles, but this otherworldly blob is actually a design for the house of the future.
The "Ambivalent House" has been declared the winner of a competition to build a futuristic design on a site located beneath the iconic Hollywood sign.
For years, this plot of land on the famed Mulholland Drive has been barren. But several years ago, LA dentist Steve Alper snapped it up and, alongside architectural research organisation Arch Out Loud, set out to find a proposal for design project that would "forever leave its mark on the Los Angeles landscape".
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
He wanted to "make [the site] a story as opposed to just another luxury home", writes Archinect.
The idea, says Arch Out Loud, was to ignite a dialogue using the competition to explore the potential of the site and the future of residential design in general.
More than 500 designers from around the world submitted designs that demonstrated "innovative technology and integrative environmental strategies", guided by a brief that "capitalised on the iconic prominence of the site".
A winning blob
Ambivalent House took first place, although it had stiff competition from runners-up the Hollywood Hill – a grass-topped building – and the Last House, which is described as a "futuristic doughnut" by the Daily Mail.
The winning creators at LA-based architect company Hirsuta describe their spheroid construction as the "offspring of more geometrically perfect round houses".
Wrapped in photovoltaic film, the structure – labelled by Domain as "more of a Hollywood film prop than a family home" – functions as a giant solar panel.
In addition to these green credentials, it floats low to the ground on a single column so that, over the course of a year, it rotates 360 degrees.
Hirsuta, whose previous projects include "Jonathan's room", a children's bedroom inspired by classic children's book Where the Wild Things Are, says the rotating feature would inevitably produce new profiles and elevations, ensuring the house "could not be viewed the same way twice".
What's next?
It may be a while before the building appears in tourists' photographs. Arch Out Loud says there are no plans to construct the house yet, nor is Alper committed to commissioning the winning design.
A "combination of ideas that were submitted to the competition" may be considered, said Arch Out Loud's Nick Graham.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Exurbs: America's biggest housing trend you haven't heard of
Under the Radar Northeastern exurbs were the nation's biggest housing markets in 2024
-
How to enjoy a coolcation in Sweden
The Week Recommends You won't break a sweat on Lake Asnen or underground at the Adventure Mine
-
Crossword: May 8, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
-
Critics' choice: Variations on family values
Feature French cuisine gets a Vietnamese twist, a one-man Turkish kitchen, and a family-run Italian restaurant
-
7 ways to drink spectacularly across the United States this spring
The Week Recommends A bar for every springtime occasion
-
These 8 restaurants bring spring to your table
The Week Recommends An array of cuisines at noteworthy restaurants across the US
-
The 8 best items to buy from beloved museum gift shops
The Week Recommends Enjoy these artsy products from the comfort of home
-
7 restaurants that beat winter at its own chilly game
The Week Recommends Classic, new and certain to feed you well
-
8 bars to hunker down in during the fall season
The Week Recommends Where to drink now in Phoenix, New York City and many a point in between
-
When Mexico met the US: a restaurant guide
The Week Recommends A new generation of chefs is intertwining their Mexican heritage with a distinctly localized sense of American food
-
Stars close out Paris Olympics, toss to LA
Speed Read A Tom Cruise stunt and Billie Eilish concert ended the 2024 Paris Olympics