Mukesh Ambani chooses his Architect and Contractor very carefully. Possibly- He looked out through globe for the best constructions firm and selected a team until he got satisfied by their previous work.
The contractor was CIMIC Group or Leighton Holdings; established in 1949
surrounded by slums, narrow fencing roads and limited area to spare. Together, the team constructed Antilia, in Mumbai
There is an interesting fact I saw in a TV programme- that why Ambani family decided to have residence on the top floor of the building, i.e, just below the floor of ATC control room. The two reasons were:
- Nita Ambani wanted to have a view of Arabian sea from her room, with an early sunlight. The building is just 700 m from the coast.
- The family members are more likely to use their private flights than their luxury cars. So it is quick to reach helipads on top than the car parking area in bottom.
Antilia is a much talked about ‘private luxury home’ in the world, after Buckingham Palace; less about the exteriors and much about the interior specifications.
The features of Mukesh Ambani’s house Antilia are as follows –
Antilia is a private residence in South Mumbai, India owned by the business tycoon and the owner of the Reliance Industries – Mukesh Ambani. Unlike other rich people Mukesh Ambani consist of only one house and that is Antilia. That’s a shocking thing to hear but it’s true. Mukesh Ambani is the owner of a single house. But it’s better than any other house anyone can ever own.
It is the world’s most expensive private residence and considered the most expensive residence after Buckingham Palace in the world. It is told by many popular magazines and newspapers including Forbes and Times of India that Antilia is the world’s most expensive home costing approximately 2 billion US dollars.
Antilia is located at Altamount Road, Cumballa Hill, South Mumbai. This area is considered as one of the most expensive neighborhood in Mumbai. The building was designed by the Chicago based architectural company Perkins+Will. The construction work was done by the Australian based Construction Company Leighton Holdings. It’s Structural Engineering was done by Sterling Engineering Consultancy Services.
The construction of this skyscrapper started in 2006 and it took almost 4 years to complete it. In 2010 the house was completed and 5th February 2010 was the opening day of the house. Even after the completion of the house the Ambanis were not able to shift immediately. It was believed that the house will bring them bad luck as it’s not appropriate according to the Vastu Shastra as told by, Basannt R. Rasiwasia , an expert in Vastu Shastra. Even after a year the house was left abandoned. It took more than a year for them to shift into Antilia.
Antilia house was named after a Phantom Island Antellia which was believed to be in the Atlantic Ocean. Many people mistake it with a mythical Island but it is said that the island was located on Atlantic Ocean and seen on globe during 15th century.
The house consists of 27 floors with extra high ceiling. These extra high ceilings consist of a height of 2 floors that means as compared to a normal building, it may have the height of a 60 floored building. That makes the house look even more royal than it already is.
It is an earthquake proof building which can survive earthquake up to the rating of 8. Of course, it has to be. Mukesh Ambani would never want to see his dream house crashing down with a small shake.
The whole house is so unique that even two floors of the house are not same. From the materials to the designing, everything is differently used on every floor. Even the wood used on two different floors are not same. Nita Ambani made sure of that. She had every floor designed in a unique and different way.
Two design motifs are used in this house that is the sun and the lotus. These patterns are repeated in the whole mansion. These motifs are made up of rare materials like mother of pearl, marbles, crystals etc.
The great mansion has dedicated six floors to the car parking that can accommodate up to 168 cars. Not just that. He also have his own private car service station on the 7th floor of his house. On the top of the house lies three helipads, even though it’s illegal to build 3 helipads on a single building. The lobby alone consist of 9 elevators.
It may be normal to have private gym or various swimming pools in a rich man’s house but they definitely won’t have its own private yoga room, health spa, salon, dance studio, ice cream parlor, 50 seated home theater, ball room or a snow room. Yes, Antilia have it all covered. It consist of a huge ball room. The roof of the ball room is 80 percent covered with crystal chandeliers. It is large and royal, made for big parties and to attend great number of guests.
The house also consist of a snow room which is a must for a place like Mumbai where it’s heated up pretty much in every season. The chambers in it consist of man-made snow flakes. It is best way to keep up with the heat of Mumbai and treat guests with coolness. And not to forget how rich it can make you feel. This house is filled with every comfort one can buy.
It also includes a hanging garden. Yes, you heard that right. It’s a hanging garden with big W shaped pillars supporting it. This garden is also used to conserve light and energy to keep interior cool. It absorbs sunlight that can be used as energy. Ambanies would really use this energy after getting their first electricity bill of more than 7 lakhs. The house has got many terrace gardens and a temple where the family prays regularly.
Antilia is not just the home of the 5 members of the Ambani Family but also of those 600 hundred people who has the house all maintained 24 hours. Mr. Ambani also made sure that they get everything they need and got them their own household chambers entourage rooms that includes a huge space in the house.
A report by Fly Abu Dhabi has valued Antilla at $2 billion and named it the 12th most expensive building in the world. A staff of 600 maintains the property, which is located in South Mumbai. Owned by Reliance Industries’ Chairman Mukesh Ambani, Antilla is deemed the second most expensive residential property in the world after the Buckingham Palace. The 4,00,000 sq. ft. building is located on Altamount Road in South Mumbai.
Fact # 1: Antilia is named after a mythical island in the Atlantic Ocean.
Fact # 2: This 570-foot tall skyscraping home for five is built on a 49,000-square-foot plot and consequently has more floor space than the gigantic French Palace of Versailles. Also, there are 9 elevators to take family and guests to their destinations. What’s interesting about Antilla is that no floor is alike, whether in design or even materials used – all at the request of Mukesh’s wife Nita Ambani.
Fact # 2: Every whim of the family is catered for. The Ambani home is equipped with a health spa, a salon, aballroom, a 50-seat movie theatre and multiple swimming pools, yoga and dance studios and ice cream room.
Fact # 4: Mukesh Ambani has devoted six floors to his beloved cars which can house 168 cars, including his Rs 5 crore Maybach. He even has his own car service station on 7th floor.
Fact # 5: It might be a skyscraper, but Antilia still has a garden. The smartly built mansion’s garden lies in the space that holds the ‘W’-shape beams that support the upper floors. The hanging gardens are not just for show though; the plants are energy-saving devices that absorb sunlight keeping the interior of the house cool.
Fact # 6: It reportedly takes a staff of 600 to maintain the world’s most expensive home. But Mukesh Ambani makes sure that his employees are taken care of as well. There’s also an entourage room where security/body guards and other assistants can relax.
Fact # 7: It is a 27 story building. Ceilings of several floors at Antilia are double-heighted, thus making its height approximately equal to the height of a standard building of 45 floors.
Fact # 8: The mansion has 3 helipads on the roof.
The home of Mukesh Ambani is the palatial tower ‘Antilia’ that towers above the skyline of Mumbai reminding everyone that this is where the richest man in India resides! This ambitious project was estimated at 2 billion dollars to build, which makes it the world’s priciest private residence. It is believed that Ambani had bought the piece of land for only 4 million dollars, which makes the cost of the building even more astounding.
Ambani did receive a lot of flak for spending such a meager amount for the plot which was apparently only a small proportion of the actual market rate and then converting it into a flamboyant tower in a city like Mumbai where a majority of people live in slums. However, this was perhaps one side to the story, for the others Antilia is demonstrative of the corporate strengths of the Ambanis and their new abode is reflective of the massive changes that are happening in the entire social strata of the country which is seen through the complex strata in the tower. This grandiose residence is located on Mumbai’s poshest street and it sticks out into Mumbai’s skyline like a tower made out of building blocks with a glassy exterior which hides the various luxurious elements of the building such as public, private, maintenance, support and play. Here are some facts of the most expensive house in the world:
- Antilia is the new residence of Mukesh Ambani, his wife Nita Ambani and the three children, besides 600 people staff members that help maintain the mansion and family errands.
- Some of the floors in this 27-storey tower have double or even triple height, therefore, people normally get the impression that the tower has around 40 storeys as it is 570 feet high.
- Nita Ambani has stated that the concept behind the house is ‘the lotus and the sun’ (as told to Vanity Fair). The skilled artisans were ordered to create motifs using these two elements from marble, rare woods, mother of pearl and other such expensive materials.
- Six floors in the building are strictly dedicated to their cars- the parking lot- as the Ambanis have a fleet of 168 cars and now they can keep all of them together!
- Since they have so many cars, they also decided to have their own car service center on the 7th floor of the tower.
- There is a private theater than can seat 50 people and on the roof of the theater is a terrace garden (one of the many!).
- The tower has 9 extremely fast elevators that service the various floors, for instance, there are separate elevators for guests and the Ambani family members and so on.
- They have their own ‘snow world’ which they call the ‘ice room’ to experience the winters indoors, while hot outside in Mumbai.
- Perched right on top of the tower is the private residence of the Ambanis that spans four floors. They chose the topmost floors because Nita (wife of Mukesh) wanted more sunlight and a panoramic view of the Arabian Sea.
- Apart from the three helipads that are located on Antilia, there is also a special “air space floor,” which is the control center of the helicopters.
