Tel Aviv's Azriely Center, designed by Eli Attia. Photo: WikiCommons.

Israeli-American architect Eli Attia, who designed some of Tel Aviv’s tallest buildings, including the Shalom Center Towers, came up with an idea to bring together architecture and engineering disciplines in a way that could create tremendous efficiencies for the construction sector, he revealed in a recent in-depth interview with Israeli business daily Globes.

In fact, in 2010, when he brought the underlying technology, which he called Engineered Architecture, and for which he filed a patent, to Google X, the future-looking arm of the internet search giant that explores new business areas, the Palo Alto-based company told Attia that his invention might generate $120 billion annually for the company.

Google went on to share details of the project with major players in architecture and construction, including managers of Tishman Construction and Trammel Crow Company, AutoCAD inventor Mike Riddle, and Richard Meier, one of the world’s leading architects, all of whom said the idea was brilliant and would save them fortunes.

Without much of an explanation, however, Attias says he first received a message that the project would be cancelled, and then he learned that it continued, but under a new name. He tried to contact them and plead his case with management and board members, but, he says, he was rebuffed.

Rather than try to sue the corporate giant, Attias says he is bringing his case to the public, hoping Google’s own users will pressure the company to live by it’s motto: “do no evil.”