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India's richest man builds 60-storey home

adma

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http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2093090,00.html

India's richest man builds 60-storey home


· £500m Mumbai tower for family of six and 600 staff
· High-rise era attacked as dawn of 'new vulgarity'

Randeep Ramesh in New Delhi
Friday June 1, 2007
The Guardian

India256.jpg


An artist's impression of the Ambani house in Mumbai. Photograph: Mumbai Mirror

In the most conspicuous sign yet of India's unprecedented prosperity, the country's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, is building a new home in the financial hub of Mumbai: a 60-storey palace with helipad, health club and six floors of car parking.
The building, named Antilla after a mythical island, will have a total floor area greater than Versailles and be home for Mr Ambani, his mother, wife, three children and 600 full-time staff.

Draped in hanging gardens, the building will have a floor for a home theatre, a glass-fronted apartment for guests, and a two-storey health club. As the ceilings are three times as high as a normal building's, the 173m (570ft) tower will only have 27 floors.
With property prices rocketing, the building is already worth more than £500m. It is expected to be ready for the Ambanis to move in next year. The family currently live in a 14-storey building, Sea Wind.

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Group is India's largest private company, with interests in oil, retail and biotechnology. The 50-year-old became the country's first rupee trillionaire this week, taking his net worth to £14bn.

The Indian economy is soaring: yesterday it posted annual growth of 9.4%. Friends of the Ambanis told the Guardian that the billionaire's new home was "comparable to those owned by friends such as Lakshmi Mittal". The UK-based steel tycoon bought the most expensive house in London last year, paying £60m for a place in Kensington Palace Gardens.

Urban planners say Mr Mukesh's home is part of a global rush for tall buildings that has seen skyscrapers spring up in Dubai, Shanghai and Seoul.

In India, planning rules and a historic antipathy to unrestrained materialism has meant that this race to touch the sky has largely bypassed the cities, which are more notable for their shantytowns and dilapidated housing. But experts say the next wave of skyscraper proposals could come in India.

"Our wealthiest citizens used to hide their money," said Hafeez Contractor, a Mumbai-based architect. "They would not drive their Mercedes, they lived in small apartments. Even Mr Ambani's father lived in a small block of flats. They were afraid of the taxman. But that attitude has gone; Mukesh has made his money, and good for him if he wants to flaunt it."

Mr Contractor said it is only a matter of time before Mumbai was littered with high-rises: "We have to find homes for people, and in a small area that means building skyscrapers."

While some idolise the riches and glamour of India's "Jazz Age", others are uncomfortable with the "new vulgarity". Only last week India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, called on business leaders to "eschew conspicuous consumption" and "be role models of moderation".

Praful Bidwai, a newspaper columnist, said the divide between rich and poor was becoming obscene. "Mr Ambani is building an edifice to his own ego," he said.

"It will not go down well with the public and there is a growing tide of anger about such absurd spending."
 
The family currently live in a 14-storey building

poor family :( the horror!

Praful Bidwai, a newspaper columnist, said the divide between rich and poor was becoming obscene

it's also becoming 60 stories!


it's his money, let him do what he wants but what a waste! i would have built a condo/hotel with some of the perks he included and only personally occupy the top 2 floors at most.
 
what the hell does anyone need a 60 story "house" for?? Insane....wealth is wasted on the rich....
 
It looked like MVRDV's Hannover Expo 2000 Dutch Pavillion on steroids.

They should have gotten Charles Correa to do it instead.

AoD
 
For what it's worth, 606 people will be housed on 27 storeys. That's a lot better than most ultra high end condos.
 
Hafeez Contractor, a Mumbai-based architect

Gotta love that name... he can be the architect and the Contractor for a building project all at the same time!

I would assume that a significant part of the building will be occupied by Ambani's 600 servants. It won't be the first time that servants got to live in a landmark building - Chicago's Marina City was designed to house building janitors and elevator operators.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_City
 
Somehow, I'm wondering if there's a Torno penthouse equivalent somewhere up there...
 
If I had that kind of money the last thing I would do is build a 60 storey home. What a waste. Why not finance a cultural institution, build a subway, or something else that is actually useful?
 
I would like to think so, but I'm afraid that sometime somewhere some idiot will decide to outdo this fool.

42
 
It sure is vulgar but then again that label could similarily be applied to most of humanities most cherished structures. At least in this instance people will likely be paid something to build it and it is unlikely that hundreds or thousands of people will die in it's construction. So let's say Casa Loma bad taste vulgar as opposed to Hermitage human oppression vulgar.
 
Why is this building being described as having 60 floors? In the article, it has 'only' 27 floors, albeit with Dubai-style ceiling-to-floor heights.

As far as tackyness goes, yes it is a blatant example of conspicuous consumption, but really it's merely the logical conclusion of a lot of high-end residential construction -- aren't multi-floor penthouses becoming increasingly common? This simply takes that idea several steps farther.

Bill
 
Remember, 606 people will live here, 600 of whom would presumably be quite poor without Ambani's intervention. So let's just say he's being benevolent.
 

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