On Georgia's exclusive Sea Island, expensive homes with white columns or wrought-iron grillwork face the Atlantic, reflecting understated elegance. But now they are being joined by an intrusive newcomer, a sprawling collage of concrete and glass. The 12,500-sq.-ft. extravagance is the creation of Atlanta Architect John Portman, whose atriums and glass elevators have entranced visitors in hotels from Los Angeles to Manhattan.
Portman's $8 million vacation house is not yet finished, but sightseers are flocking to it, and some of his neighbors are knocking it. "This bad taste is being foisted on us for the sake of an ego trip," sniffed...