World's First US$2b Home Rising In Mumbai

Source : The Business Times, May 03, 2008

(MUMBAI) A 27-storey sea-facing skyscraper coming up in downtown Mumbai will soon be home to a family of five. With a price tag nearing US$2 billion, it will be the world's largest and most expensive home - ever.

The proud owner of this property, which will be ready by January next year, is Mukesh Ambani, head of Mumbai-based petrochemical giant Reliance Industries and the fifth richest man in the world.

The only remotely comparable high-rise property currently on the market is the US$70 million triplex penthouse at the Pierre Hotel in New York, designed to resemble a French chateau, and climbing 525 feet in the air. The Ambani residence will be 550 feet high with 400,000 square feet of interior space.

Mr Ambani's home costs much more than a hotel or high-rise of similar size because of its customised measurements and fittings, the Forbes magazine reports.

A hotel or condominium has a common layout, replicated on every floor, and uses the same materials throughout the building, such as door handles, floors, lamps and window treatments. But the Ambani home, called Antilla, differs in that no two floors are alike in either plans or materials used. At the request of Nita Ambani, the tycoon's wife, if a metal, wood or crystal is part of the ninth-floor design, it shouldn't be used on the eleventh floor, for example. The idea is to blend styles and architectural elements so spaces give the feel of consistency, but without repetition.

While visiting New York in 2005, Nita Ambani was in the spa at the Mandarin Oriental New York, overlooking Central Park. The contemporary Asian interiors struck her just so, and prompted her to inquire about the designer.

The Ambanis then consulted architecture firms Perkins + Will and Hirsch Bedner Associates, the designers behind the Mandarin Oriental, based in Dallas and Los Angeles, respectively.

Antilla's shape is based on Vaastu, an Indian tradition much like Feng Shui that is said to move energy beneficially through the building by strategically placing materials, rooms and objects.

Forbes reported that atop six stories of parking lots, Antilla's living quarters begin at a lobby with nine elevators, as well as several storage rooms and lounges. Down dual stairways with silver-covered railings is a large ballroom with 80 per cent of its ceiling covered in crystal chandeliers. It features a retractable showcase for pieces of art, a mount of LCD monitors and embedded speakers, as well as stages for entertainment. The hall opens to an indoor/outdoor bar, green rooms, powder rooms and allows access to a nearby 'entourage room' for security guards and assistants to relax.

For more temperate days, the family will enjoy a four-storey open garden. The top floors of entertaining space, where Mr Ambani plans to host business guests (or just relax), offer panoramic views of the Arabian Sea.

Mr Ambani plans to occasionally use the residence for corporate entertainment, and the family wants the look and feel of the home's interior to be distinctly Indian; 85 per cent of the materials and labour will come from outside the United States, most of it from India.

Where possible, the designers told the Forbes, whether it's for the silver railings, crystal chandeliers, woven area rugs or steel support beams, the Ambanis are using Indian companies, contractors, craftsmen and materials firms.

Elements of Indian culture juxtapose newer designs. For example, the sinks in a lounge extending off the entertainment level, which features a movie theatre and wine room, are shaped like ginkgo leaves (native to India) with the stem extending to the faucet to guide the water into the basin.

Forbes estimated Mr Ambani's net worth at US$43 billion in March. The couple, who have three children, currently live in a 22-storey Mumbai tower that the family has spent years remodelling to meet its needs.