Building Castle in the Air

Hi all,

i am new in posting and starting a thread in ATS, however i have been following the website for many years now...basically you can call me affe, i am from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. this morning, i have received an email from a friend about an indian billionaire, whose wealth comes from petrochemical business..

i thought it is appropriate to post this in this forum, since we are discussing about global financial crisis, and it is worth to mention that there are people who reap in tonnes and tonnes of wealth..

this house is call Antilla, where it is being build in India, where most of the people in india is being deprived of the basic necessities and care..while some of the richest are building massive castle for 5 person.. and it will be ready in Jan 2009

read more from the link
Mukesh Ambanis - Antilla

"Thought it will be interesting to cover the house being constructed in Mumbai’s Altamount Road by the world’s richest man – Mukesh Ambani. Yep, he’s officially the richest now with the skyrocketing share prices of RIL. The house (called Antilla) is being valued at Rupees 4000 crores and will be 173 metres tall. Normally that is the equivalent of a 60 storeyed tower, but in this case each floor is more than twice the height of a normal floor, with the result that the building will only have 27 floors when completed. Given the prevailing state of skyscrapers in Mumbai, this building will be more than twice as tall as the earlier tallest buiilding. The view from the top will be breathtaking, no doubt. Some other absurd facts about this ‘house’.. 3 helipads on top. Mumbai corporation has not given permission for making this operational yet. Hanging gardens within the structure Swimming pool within the structure A two storey Health centre Parking space for 168 cars (6 floors). I initially thought that meant there will be a mini office in the building but apparently that is not the case. All these cars will belong to Mukesh Ambani! Just in case you are interested, he drives a 5 crore Maybach now. A floor exclusively for servicing these automobiles within the building. A floor for Home theatre – sitting capacity of 50 Most absurd of all, the house will have a staff of 600 (sic) to do the maintenance activities. That gives a ratio of 1:100 for people living in the house and those who are paid to take care of it. The six lucky (?) ones are the man himself, his wife, his 3 children and his mother Kokilaben. The family will be moving in from their old home ‘Sea Wind’ which was a 14 floor building at Cuffe Parade."

i will post some of the pictures of the house soon

here is the link from Forbest

Ambani Builds A Palace In The Sky

and the pictures of the building

Exterior



Lobby


Home Theater



Dressing Room



Ballroom




[All Image Courtesies : gizmodo.com]

Anyone else think that his is really tacky? i can't believe he'd spend that much on something that looks like a stack of burger boxes from the outside and cheap chinese take-away from the inside. I bet he designed it himself

What a plonker! He had the money and opportunity to build something truly epic that would last an era and he goes and builds a monstrosity! That is a seriously ugly building.

Just proves that money can't buy class.

i didn't see where his 'blackwater security' personnel are going to be housed...


you can be sure that a site like that will bring many a person with a 'cause' and armed with perhaps a RPG or sidewinder missile,

well, with so much monies, he should have done something for the people in india, instead of building such a big building for only 5 person...

what a waste of resources...

I have to agree that this is an awful eyesore of architectural design. Whoever let him call that design needs to be whipped in the sity square.
UGH.

As to the cost of this beast, I agree that the money could have been better used to do something besides lord ones prestige and wealth over the lambs in the fields. But, that is the nature of the ultra-rich. Its all about putting the money on display for the world to admire and the nearly, but no quite so rich to be impressed by.

I didnt see any earthquake resistors in that design, so perhaps the people living in the shadow of Antilla should hope for a shaker.

another thing which is scary about the design is.. the total height of the building is 173 m tall, which is equivalent to 60 storey..however the building is build for only 27 floors, which means the supporting beams are stretch higher to support the empty space..

now let's just say you have 100 or maybe 800 more people on 1 floor above the empty space and started dancing..i do not know if the beam can withstand the vibrations over a long period of time..


maybe i am wrong, is there any architect in the house to provide their insight?