[Answer my question at the end]

The 5th richest dude in the world, an Indian guy with $43 billion (BTW, did y'all know that Bill gates is now #3?) is having a $2 billion home built in downtown Mumbai (Bombay).

Quote :

"The couple, who have three children, currently live in a 22-story Mumbai tower that the family has spent years remodeling to meet its needs."

Stats:

Antilla
$2 billion
27 stories
550 feet tall
50,000 sq-ft plot
3 helipads
9 elevators
600 servants
4-yr construction
Mutliple "safe" rooms
Movie theatre for 50
Living quarters on 4 floors
No two floors alike in plans or materials
Ice/snow room to shake off the Mumbai heat
1st 6 stories a parking deck that can hold 150-175 cars
Crystal chandeliers cover 80% of the ceiling of the ballroom
4-storey garden completely open to the environment part of the structure
400,000 sq ft interior space (5-6 soccer fields/7 football fields/85 BB courts)
40,000-50,000 sq ft will be living space (50-70% of a soccer field/70-85% of a football field/9-10 BB courts)

Article:
http://www.forbes.com/2008/04/30/home-india-billion-forbeslife-cx_mw_0430realestate.html

Dude:
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/10/billionaires08_Mukesh-Ambani_NY3A.html

Video:
http://www.forbes.com/video/?video=fvn/billionaires/er_billionairehome043008

Picture:
http://images.forbes.com/media/2008/04/30/ambanihome_426w.jpg





Details:

Quote :

"Exterior Antilla, the partially completed home of Mumbai-based petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries head Mukesh Ambani, will stand 27 stories high and is expected to cost $2 billion. Ambani, the fifth richest man in the world, his wife and three children currently live in a 22-story Mumbai tower the family has spent years remodeling and refashioning to meet its needs."

Quote :

"Lobby Nine elevators dot the lobby floor: Two are designated for parking areas, three for guest quarters, two for the Ambani family residences and two for service. The lobby opens to numerous lounges, reception areas and powder rooms. Dual stairways lead from the lobby floor down to the ballroom, which is designed in an open layout with a two-story roof. "

Quote :

"Ballroom The most striking features of the Antilla ballroom are the crystal chandeliers that will take up approximately 80% of the ceiling. The silver stairways lead to a central landing, behind which two retractable doors can open to display works of art. There is also a stage for entertainment or speeches, with a projection screen behind it. A kitchen, about the same size as the ballroom itself, can service hundreds of guests."

Quote :

"Bathroom One of Antilla's key design themes is the mix of lavish features seen in worldwide homes and elements that are distinctly Indian. The Gingko-leaf sink designs are a good example. Native to India, the leaves in the sinks are shaped in such a way that their stems guide water into the bowl created by the basket of the leaf."

Quote :

"Traditional Lounge Ambani's home features countless lounges, offering Reliance Industries guests a quiet escape. Chandeliers and mirrors are a common feature of these rooms, as are finely woven Indian area rugs."

Quote :

"Modern Lounge Each space and floor uses materials not seen anywhere else. The idea is that spaces will blend into one another, giving the impression of consistency and flow, while at the same time displaying different influences and traditions. This furniture, floors, lines and dark woods of this lounge have a more minimalistic approach than the home's other lounges. "

Quote :

"Entertainment Level It's very common in large homes to have a theater or screening room, but usually they're just large projection screens with a few nice seats. The Ambani's theater is more like those seen in George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch or Frank Pritt's Portabello Estate--a full-fledged theater, indistinguishable from a cinema. A wine room, snack bar and entertaining space, including couches and tables, fill out the room."

Quote :

"Health Level The indoor/outdoor health level features a lap pool and Jacuzzi that take in views of the city skyline, as well as lounge chairs shaded by trees. Yoga and dance studios, changing rooms for men and women, gyms and a solarium with a juice bar fill out the interior space. There are plans to include an ice room in the center space, where the Ambanis could sit on a hot Mumbai day to cool off in a man-made snow flurry. "

Quote :

"Garage The first six floors of the residence will be dedicated to parking for the Ambani family, guests and employees. Hanging vertical gardens dot the exterior. While they make for good decoration, their key function has to do with energy efficiency: The hydroponic plants, grown in liquid nutrient solutions instead of soil, lower the energy footprint of the home by absorbing heat and sunlight and providing shade that helps keep it cool. "

Quote :

"Roof The top floor features a covered, outdoor entertaining space with panoramic views of the Mumbai skyline as well as the Arabian Sea. On those days when it's too hot, or cold, an interior space with floor-to-ceiling windows provides the same luxury."

**********************************************************************

My question:

Why is this going to cost so much, if 85% of the materials and labour will come from India? Consider these:


Burj Al Arab

World's tallest and most luxurious hotel at 1,053 feet/321 meters, with all the 202 rooms large suites, cost $1.5-2 billion to build. (figure on link below is incorrect)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Al_Arab


Emirates Palace

Most expensive (construction) hotel ever built, with 302 rooms and 92 suites, cost $3 billion to build.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/emirates_Palace_Hotel


Burj Dubai

World's tallest building under construction, which will tower about 2,684 feet/818 meters, will cost a total of $4 billion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Dubai


[Edited on May 9, 2008 at 8:12 PM. Reason : ]

5/9/2008 7:43:01 PM

2 billion and it doesnt even look baller

looks like the cross section of uncompleted office building


If I was dropping that much on a house, I'd make it an authentic castle exterior, with a moat with gators and everything

5/9/2008 7:50:28 PM

black people will complain about anything

5/9/2008 7:59:31 PM

2 adults and 3 kids?

WTF. Okay, it's his money and his right to do what he will, but that's excessive. I mean it just IS. I cannot even fathom them using 22 stories, much less 27. And If I was a mom with a kid under the age of 12 with 27 stories to get lost in? Holy crap. How do you let the tykes wander anywhere or do you just lock them on various floors?

The practical problems of living in that kind of place....and I would bet $$texas that they dont use 99% of it 99% of the time.

5/9/2008 8:01:15 PM

More about the guy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukesh_Ambani


^^^

I see your point, but this is a new-age home. If I had to choose between something like this, or a European-style castle, I would go with the castle I guess. I don't know, actually.

But one thing is for sure no matter what style I chose: I would never have it built in the middle of a large city, and especially not Bombay.

5/9/2008 8:04:35 PM

Wiki entry:

Quote :

"Ambani is currently building a US$2 billion residential building, Antilia in Mumbai for his family. It is expected to be ready in January 2009. Chicago's Perkins & Will designed the glass-tower which features a "health club, multiple "safe" rooms, 3 helipads, 168 parking spaces and require 600 servants to maintain, and physically, the structure stands at 27 storeys, or 570 feet tall."

Controversy:

Quote :

"Serious questions, including via a pending Maharashtra high court case, have been raised due to the fact that the Muslim Waqf board which sold the land thought that it would be used for charitable purposes, in this case a construction of an orphanage for the destitute. This is still the official designation of the land, it is thought retrospective permission will be given to convert the land from being used for an orphanage to being used to construct a 2 billion dollar home for a family of 5.[6]. Another issue the Waqf board has sought to raise with the High Court is that the land was worth Rs. 4,000 crore (USD $100 million) but was in fact sold for Rs.21 crore (USD $5.25 million).[7]. The Waqf Board alleges underhand tactics were used to facilitate the sale."

Baller:

Quote :

"He gifted his wife Nita a jet plane worth Rs. 2.8 billion (US$70 million) recently on her birthday."

5/9/2008 8:22:02 PM

Quote :

"But one thing is for sure no matter what style I chose: I would never have it built in the middle of a large city, and especially not Bombay."

Yeah, he's basically saying, "suck my dick," to the rest of the city.

5/9/2008 8:30:55 PM

hey, you want a fat crib, it's not hurting anyone.

What else would you use it on? Charity? As if.

I mean, it's not like there are millions of starving people in India or anything.

5/9/2008 9:18:27 PM

somebody needs to read up on the gospel of wealth

5/9/2008 9:31:23 PM

he should have done a castle on a skyscraper, like on Gargoyles

that just looks retarded

5/9/2008 10:02:12 PM

Quote :

"3 helipads"

I mean really, come on 3???

5/9/2008 10:10:32 PM

Quote :

"400,000 sq ft interior space (5-6 soccer fields/7 football fields/85 BB courts)"

haha, the first time I read this I thought you were saying there would be 5-6 soccer fields, 7 football fields, and 85 basketball courts. I was like "why the fuck do they need that many of each of those.

5/9/2008 10:24:10 PM

Quote :

"that just looks retarded"

so wrong


it is annoyingly extravigant, but it looks bad ass

5/9/2008 11:08:08 PM

other than the theater, that's the stupidest shit I've ever seen.

5/9/2008 11:28:35 PM

gay

5/9/2008 11:46:55 PM

sweet. would never do that but it is still pretty cool

5/9/2008 11:48:40 PM

what a fucking waste

OEPII's little controversy blurb makes this guy seem like a real douche

5/10/2008 12:05:00 AM

"Where do you live?"

Mukesh Ambani: "The butt ass ugly monstrosity in the middle of Mumbai. Yeah, my penis really is an innie."

5/10/2008 12:07:13 AM

No basketball court and no bowling alley = piece of shit.

I'd still try to be his friend though. And if I lived there or was a "servant"...I would make it my life goal to try and fuck in every room.

5/10/2008 12:52:13 AM

Quote :

"Asia's richest resident heads petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company by market cap. His fortune is up $22.9 billion since last year, making him the world's second biggest gainer in terms of dollars. The biggest gainer was his estranged brother Anil, who ranks 6th in the world just behind his older brother. The sons inherited their fortune from their late father, renowned industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani. But they couldn't get along and in 2005 their mother brokered a peace settlement breaking up the family's assets. Mukesh is using some of his money to build a 27-story home."

so it's two spoiled kids having a pissing contest with daddy's money.

5/10/2008 1:39:44 AM

Quote :

"Mohamed Ali Alabbar, the CEO of Emaar Properties, speaking at the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat 8th World Congress, said that the price of office space at Burj Dubai had reached $4,000 per sq ft and that the Armani Residences, also in Burj Dubai, were selling for $3,500 per sq ft.[8]"

the council on ... tall buildings....


i mean, that's all they could come up with ?

5/10/2008 2:29:14 AM

Quote :

"so it's two spoiled kids having a pissing contest with daddy's money."

Even though the brothers don't get along, they both have been multiplying the wealth inherited from their father....

5/10/2008 5:38:57 AM

If I had that much money, I would not be able to, in good conscience, build such an extravagant home.

I'd certainly have a nice pad, but that $2 billion could feed, clothe, and house a LOT of people.

And it's really shitty to build that in the middle of a city with millions of sick, hungry, and homeless people.

5/10/2008 9:05:44 AM

it's actually an economic stimulus in a way for the area... people need to be hired to build it, local businesses will be able to sell the materials needed for construction, etc.


it's still butt ugly and in the middle of shit-hole india.

5/10/2008 9:23:50 AM

Talk about being difficult to sell if it ever goes on the market..

I assume if he ever did have to sell, he would have to break the home up into several smaller homes.

5/10/2008 10:26:49 AM

People like them never struggled through life so they never know what it felt like to be poor. And I just think its bad taste to spend so much so frivolously.

5/10/2008 10:31:14 AM

^^

or make it a hotel

5/10/2008 10:52:59 AM

I think it's cool. It's been a while since people built baller shit like pyramids, palaces, etc. Eventually, things like this become a source of national pride, not angst like some people are suggesting.

The jobs that this creates will be worth a hell of lot more to bombay than any fucking handouts. For lifting people out of poverty, handouts are a huge waste of money compared to developing local business and industry.

5/10/2008 11:41:27 AM

are you guys missing the most crucial part? he's employing 600 Indians! He's a humanitarian!

5/10/2008 12:19:49 PM

Quote :

"what a fucking waste OEPII's little controversy blurb makes this guy seem like a real douche"

for some reason i feel like blowing it up

5/10/2008 1:30:02 PM

Reason it costs more than those hotels/office buildings:

Everything is custom/non-uniform - You don't just have a floor of homogonous rooms/suites.

5/10/2008 1:42:46 PM

Well, if you'd know a bit about some of those UAE buildings OEP mentioned, you'd know some of them are custom, with interior designers going through and making every room different. That's why he linked to them. The crazy dudes running the UAE are blowing money like it's going out of style on over-the-top custom luxury hotels for tourists.

If I had to guess, I'd say the cost differences had to do with some of the things in the design which were probably not the cheapest to do, structurally speaking. There's also some of the outright gaudy crap like the room filled with chandeliers. I imagine he didn't really get hardcore about the pricing, so he got a bunch of expensive ass contractors and designers and engineers to build his gigantic dick-tower for him.

5/10/2008 1:52:17 PM

That building is a terrorist's wet dream.

How dumb do you have to be to build such a huge and amazingly ugly building in the middle of one the world's shittiest cities?

He might as well have built that shit in Congo.

5/10/2008 3:32:36 PM

i could think of a better way to blow 2 billion

5/10/2008 4:17:52 PM

looks like the hanging gardens of babylon

5/10/2008 4:55:50 PM

Quote :

"2 adults and 3 kids? WTF. Okay, it's his money and his right to do what he will, but that's excessive. I mean it just IS. I cannot even fathom them using 22 stories, much less 27. And If I was a mom with a kid under the age of 12 with 27 stories to get lost in? Holy crap. How do you let the tykes wander anywhere or do you just lock them on various floors? The practical problems of living in that kind of place....and I would bet $$texas that they dont use 99% of it 99% of the time."

5/10/2008 5:47:52 PM

i mean he coulda bought a nice house for 500k and then used the rest of coke and strippers

5/10/2008 6:01:47 PM

I feel this is more to do with publicity he is getting from it. Instead of having a traditional ad budget of 2 billion per year, get yourself a $2 billion home and let the talk begin.

how many of you knew about Ambani family before this?

5/10/2008 6:27:58 PM

i still dont give a shit about him

5/10/2008 7:03:42 PM

fugly house, for 2 billion I would design something way nicer. Like a modern Biltmore Estate

5/10/2008 7:36:01 PM

is this $2 billion in todays us dollar bucks

or 10 years ago us dollar bucks

5/10/2008 7:39:55 PM

when he's reincarnated as a turd, i'm sure he'll look back fondly on his life of extravagant gluttony and think "maybe i should have helped people with that money."

5/11/2008 11:48:35 AM

hopefully a bum shits on their door.

5/11/2008 2:18:13 PM

Mumbai has the worst urban poverty that I have ever seen. I felt guilty when I was there because I was staying in a moderately nice hotel, I can't imagine looking out of a $2 billion house at that kind of stuff.

Also what a stupid stupid way to spend your money. If it were me I would buy a few modest houses/condos around the world and keep the rest invested.

5/11/2008 2:23:49 PM

Most of you retards are talking about how he should help poor people. wtf do you know about him? By creating thousands of well paid jobs in India his family has done its part. I’d prefer someone who creates jobs for people who want to work and earn money with respect. It is a long term solution that creates self respect in people. Free charity only creates more beggars.


P.S: Its one thing to say what he is doing is a bad investment. It’s completely different when you bitch about him not throwing his money into some lame ass charity.

5/11/2008 2:28:13 PM

That's one thing that I like about the affluent indians that I've met over there. Hiring a servant is very common. I was meeting with a guy in Nassik, about 80 miles from Mumbai, who lived with a large family in a house that was very similar to the one that I lived in during college. Over there it was considered a very nice house and he had his own servants and even a security guard working the gate (even though the guard looked at least 80 and was carrying a really old rusty shotgun). While not the best way to spend your money, it certainly helps out everyone else.

5/11/2008 2:50:05 PM

Quote :

"I’d prefer someone who creates jobs for people who want to work and earn money with respect. It is a long term solution that creates self respect in people. Free charity only creates more beggars."

And free charity is also not really about helping other people -- it's about making the giver feel good about themselves, and it's a hell of a lot easier than committing to building up a country's economy.

[Edited on May 11, 2008 at 2:56 PM. Reason : .]

5/11/2008 2:56:33 PM

I could think of better things to do with $2 billion... not necessarily throwing it at a charity but certainly making a difference somewhere/somehow

5/11/2008 3:02:35 PM

nvm

[Edited on May 11, 2008 at 3:58 PM. Reason : pedantic]

5/11/2008 3:57:58 PM

Quote :

"Most of you retards are talking about how he should help poor people. wtf do you know about him? By creating thousands of well paid jobs in India his family has done its part. I’d prefer someone who creates jobs for people who want to work and earn money with respect. It is a long term solution that creates self respect in people. Free charity only creates more beggars."

He could have used the 2 billion to build an entire neighborhood or two. He'd still create jobs and could even rent out the new apartments/condos to people at affordable prices - maybe even turn a small profit for himself.

Quote :

"How do you let the tykes wander anywhere or do you just lock them on various floors?"

You plant a gps in them... or just wait for the terrorists to contact you with their whereabouts, list of demands, etc.

[Edited on May 11, 2008 at 7:40 PM. Reason : d]

5/11/2008 7:31:46 PM