India’s richest man and Reliance Industries' Chairman Mukesh Ambani’s Antilia has figured amongst the world's most expensive building. Fly Abu Dhabi has issued a list of world’s 20 most costly homes and Antilia figures on number 12 in the list. The vertical architectural marvel, Antilia is managed by a staff of 600 and is located in South Mumbai. It is sometimes deemed as the second most expensive residential property in the world after the Buckingham Palace.
With construction cost of almost $2 billion, the 27-storey skyscraper Antilia is spread in over 400,000sq ft of space. It includes six storeys of parking lots, a lobby with nine elevators, several lounges, a ballroom with crystal chandeliers, swimming pool, bar, yoga studio, ice room, four-storey garden and private sleeping areas for a family of five.
The skyscraper Antilia is named after a mythical island in the Atlantic. The house has previously topped the Forbes list of the most expensive homes in the world. "The title of the most outrageously expensive property in the world still belongs to Mukesh Ambani's Antilia in Mumbai," Forbes said.
Putting Antilia's scale and cost into perspective, Forbes compared it to '7 World Trade Center', a 52-story tower that stands near Ground Zero in Manhattan with 1.7 million square feet of office space that was reportedly built for two billion dollars.
The house has six stories of underground parking, which can house 168 cars. The roof has three helicopter pads with an air traffic control facility.
There are several lounge rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms, each adorned with dangling chandeliers. Also on offer is the large ballroom, with 80 percent of its ceiling covered in crystal chandeliers that opens out to a large bar, green rooms, powder rooms and “entourage room” for security guards and assistants to relax.
The Ambani home is equipped with a 2-storey recreation center which boasts of a gym, a health spa, multiple swimming pools, a jacuzzi, separate yoga and dance studios among several other amenities.
Rounding off the opulence, the final four levels of the complex are solely devoted to hanging gardens. These gardens point to the complexes eco-friendly status, acting as an energy-saving device by absorbing sunlight, and deflecting it from the living spaces insulating the area.
