A House Designed to Battle Germs
Call it the ultimate California home.
When it’s done, this earth-tone, $3-million-plus house of concrete, glass and steel will not only be virtually fireproof, termite-proof and earthquake-proof.
It will also be antimicrobial.
In fact, designers of the 11,000-square-foot house near Simi Valley say that when it’s completed, they intend it to be the first house in the nation engineered to stem the growth of bacteria, mold and fungus, on everything from heating ducts to doorknobs and cooking pans to bedsheets. Maybe even down to the toothbrushes.
Tucked away off a winding pass in Box Canyon just inside the Ventura County line, past mechanized waterfalls and 130 acres of native plants and flowers, this home of the future is now little more than a hole in the ground.
But crews are busy trying to meet a deadline of next summer. The home’s owners, Los Angeles attorney Ed Landry and his wife, Madeleine, are counting on that. So is their architect, David Martin.
And so are more than 60 companies that stand to gain millions of dollars in publicity and sales in the years to come. If the technology employed here proves durable, practical and appealing to the public, it could find its way into houses across California and the nation, from custom homes to tract houses.
Two companies top that list. One is Ohio-based AK Steel, which is coordinating the building and using its steel.
The other is AgION Technologies, a Massachusetts firm that sells the antimicrobial coating--a ceramic powder with silver ions--that will cover much of the home’s steel as well as fixtures, fabric and appliances. Company Vice President Ravi Bhatkal said the substance doesn’t altogether eliminate germs but substantially suppresses the growth of mold, fungus and bacteria.
The Landrys say that they stumbled upon its scientific aspects quite accidentally.
“We’re not germophobes or anything,” said Ed Landry. “We don’t run around using Kleenex on doorknobs. We’re just an ordinary couple who were lucky enough to make an arrangement with these people.”
The Landrys began to consider building a new house after the 1994 quake damaged their wood-frame and stucco home in Northridge.
They were at a point in their lives where they could afford to build their fantasy home. Madeleine, 58, loves gardens. Ed, 62, loves architecture and wanted to design something modern and significant.
With their involvement in fund-raising for many causes, including the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, the Los Angeles Opera and construction of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles, they wanted an impressive spread for entertaining.
The Box Canyon site provided the right combination of space, privacy and nature. With Martin, they began to draft plans for a main house and a guest house linked by walkways and a piazza.
Steel seemed the ideal building material. It would give the couple the modern look they wanted and hold up well against fire--a concern in the area--as well as earthquakes and termites. Madeleine had developed allergies and wanted a home that could be maintained with a minimum of bug spraying, painting or use of other chemicals.
As the Landrys’ plans progressed, AgION was testing and beginning to market its antimicrobial product, which evolved from a technology used in Japan by the petrochemical industry. By 1999, the company had paired up with AK Steel in looking for a site to build an antimicrobial test home.
After Martin’s plans for the Landrys’ home won an architectural design award, the AK Steel-AgION team made some inquiries.
Martin and his firm were intrigued. “With a lot of the projects we do, we’re very interested in healthy environments and superior air quality,” he said.
Months of discussions followed to determine what plans would be modified and what elements would be coated.
The roof will not be. Neither will the hot tub and swimming pool, which will be treated with chlorine.
But almost everything else will be: Ventilation ducts. Inside handrails. Doorknobs and food preparation surfaces. Cookware. The walls of the refrigerator, oven and dishwasher. Tile, caulking and the porcelain of tubs and sinks. Racks in the 6,000-bottle wine cellar.
Carpets, upholstery and mattress pads will have the substance blended in. Scientists will visit the home periodically to determine how well the coating holds up under varied uses.
The project has caught the attention of several health experts, including some skeptics.
“Whether that is something that is good or bad is something that can only be tested over time,” said Kaye Kilburn, a professor of environmental medicine at USC. “We live in a bacterial, fungal world. If you kill all that off, nature will try to fill the vacuum with something that’s resistant to it. It is an experiment, and it ought to be regarded that way.”
