India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, has moved into his new home in Mumbai — a 27-storey mansion worth $1 billion. The house, named Antilia, has three helipads, a dance studio, a ball room, a 50-seat theatre and an underground car park for 160 cars.
The 27-floor building (560 ft or 173 m) will be home to Ambani, the richest man in India and the fourth richest in the world, plus his wife Nita, their three children - daughter Isha and sons Akash and Anant - and mother Kokilaben. The family will occupy about 400,000 sq ft, making it the largest home in the world. There will be 600 full-time employees to maintain the building. Antilia has been named after the mythical island in the Atlantic, Antillia.
Ambani is the chairman of Reliance Industries.
Chicago architects Perkins & Will have designed the building. Melbourne-based construction company Leighton Holdings began construction but it was completed by another company. The construction is said to have been inspired by the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
The skyscraper will have 3 helipads including air traffic control area at top. The building has been equipped with amenities such as a health spa, and small theatre with a seating capacity for 50 on the eighth floor. Other features include multiple swimming pools, three floors of hanging gardens, and a ballroom. Included in the tower are six floors of parking - the seventh floor is for in-house vehicle maintenance.
Antilia is supposed to have cost between US$1 billion and $2 billion, making it the most expensive residential building in the world. Reliance, however, said insisted that it cost U$50-70 million. It may have cost $77 million to build, but because of increases in property prices in Mumbai, the building is valued at $1 billion.
According to Forbes magazine, Mukesh Ambani is the fourth richest man in the world, with his net worth at a whopping $29 billion. He runs Reliance Industries, the oil, retail and biotechnology conglomerate that is the largest private sector enterprise in India.
"I have seen several houses, including that of Lakshmi Mittal (owner of Arcelor Mittal). But Antilia is marvelous. I remember the house having a Picasso painting, it was one of its kind," the chairman of a diversified telecom-to-retail business told the Times of India newspaper.
Shiny Varghese of Design Today magazine told the Guardian that the Ambanis' house was the ultimate expression of a much broader trend. "It's so obscenely lavish that I'm not sure too many people will go all that way, but we are heading into the sort of culture where money is not a question when setting up a home," he said. "The lavishness is huge. People are now happy to spend 100,000 rupees (£1,400) on a chair."
