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Nine elevators dot the lobby
floor: Two are designated for parking areas,
three for guest quarters, two
for the Ambani family residences and two for service.
The lobby opens to numerous
lounges, reception areas and powder rooms.
Dual stairways lead from the
lobby floor down to the ballroom,
which is designed in an open
layout with a two-story roof.
Ballroom
The most striking
features of the Antilla ballroom are the crystal chandeliers
that will take up
approximately 80% of the ceiling.
The silver
stairways lead to a central landing,
behind which
two retractable doors can open to display works of art.
There is also a stage for
entertainment or speeches,
with a
projection screen behind it.
A kitchen,
about the same size as the ballroom itself,
can service hundreds of
guests.
Bathroom
One of Antilla's key
design themes is the mix of lavish features
seen in worldwide homes and
elements that are distinctly Indian.
The Gingko-leaf sink designs
are a good example. Native to
India ,
the leaves in the
sinks are shaped in such a way that their
stems guide water into the
bowl created by the basket of the leaf.
Traditional Lounge
Ambani's home features
countless lounges,
offering Reliance Industries
guests a quiet escape.
Chandeliers
and mirrors are a common feature of these rooms,
as are finely woven Indian
area rugs.
Modern Lounge
Each space and floor uses
materials not seen anywhere else.
The idea is
that spaces will blend into one another,
giving the impression of
consistency and flow,
while at the
same time displaying different influences and
traditions.
This furniture,
floors, lines and dark woods of this lounge have
a more minimalistic approach
than the home's other lounges.
Entertainment Level
It's very common in large
homes to have a theater or screening room,
but usually they're just
large projection screens with a few nice seats.
The Ambani's theater is more
like those seen in
George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch
or Frank Pritt's Portabello
Estate--a
full-fledged theater, indistinguishable from a cinema.
A wine room, snack bar and
entertaining space,
including couches and tables,
fill out the room.
This is a detail from a
floor plan rendering.
Health Level
The indoor/outdoor health
level features a lap pool and Jacuzzi
that take in
views of the city skyline, as well as lounge chairs shaded by trees.
Yoga and dance studios,
changing rooms for men and women,
gyms and a
solarium with a juice bar fill out the interior space.
There are plans to include an
ice room in the center space,
where the
Ambanis could sit on a hot Mumbai day to cool off in a man-made snow
flurry.
This is a detail from a
floor plan rendering.
Garage
The
first six floors of the residence will be dedicated to parking for
the Ambani family,
guests and employees. Hanging
vertical gardens dot the exterior.
While they
make for good decoration, their key function has to do with energy
efficiency:
The hydroponic plants, grown
in liquid nutrient solutions instead of soil,
lower the energy footprint of
the home by absorbing heat and sunlight and
providing shade that helps
keep it cool.
Roof
The top floor features a
covered, outdoor entertaining space with panoramic
views of the Mumbai skyline
as well as the Arabian Sea .
On those days when it's too
hot, or cold, an interior space with
floor-to-ceiling windows
provides the same
luxury.
The
World's First Billion-Dollar Home
Matt
Woolsey, 04.30.08, 6:00 PM ET
While
visiting New York in 2005, Nita Ambani was in the spa at the
Mandarin
Oriental New York,
overlooking Central Park . The
contemporary Asian interiors struck her just so,
and prompted her to inquire
about the designer..
Nita Ambani was no
ordinary tourist. She is married to Mukesh Ambani,
head of Mumbai, India-based
petrochemical giant Reliance Industries,
and the fifth richest man in
the world. (Lakshmi Mittal, ranked fourth,
is an Indian citizen, but a
resident of the
U.K. )
Forbes estimated
Ambani's net worth at $43 billion in March.
Reliance Industries was
founded by Mukesh's father, Dhirubhai Ambani,
in 1966, and is
India 's most valuable
firm by market capitalization.
The couple,
who have three children, currently live in a 22-story Mumbai
tower
that the family has
spent years remodeling to meet its needs.
Like many families with
the means to do so, the Ambanis wanted to build a custom home.
They consulted with
architecture firms Perkins + Will and Hirsch Bedner Associates,
the designers behind the
Mandarin Oriental, based in Dallas
and Los
Angeles , respectively.
Plans were then drawn up for
what will be the world's largest and most expensive home:
a 27-story skyscraper in
downtown Mumbai with a cost nearing $2 billion, says
Thomas Johnson, director of
marketing at Hirsch Bedner Associates.
The architects and designers
are creating as they go, altering floor
plans,
design elements and
concepts as the building is constructed.
The only remotely
comparable high-rise property currently on the market is the $70
million
triplex penthouse at the
Pierre
Hotel in
New York , designed to resemble
a French chateau, and
climbing 525 feet in the air. When the Ambani residence is finished
in January,
completing a four-year
process, it will be 550 feet high with 400,000 square feet
of interior space.
The home will cost more
than a hotel or high-rise of similar size
because of its custom
measurements and fittings:
A hotel or
condominium has a common layout,
replicated
on every floor, and uses the same materials throughout the building
(such as door handles,
floors, lamps and window treatments).
The
Ambani home, called Antilla, differs in that no two floors are alike
in either plans or materials used.
At the
request of Nita Ambani, say the designers, if a metal, wood or
crystal is part of the
ninth-floor
design, it shouldn't be used on the eleventh floor, for example.
The idea is to blend styles
and architectural elements so spaces give the feel of consistency,
but without repetition.
Antilla's shape is based
on Vaastu, an Indian tradition much like Feng Shui
that is said to move energy
beneficially through the building by
strategically placing
materials, rooms and objects.
Pricey Pad
Atop six stories of parking
lots, Antilla's living quarters begin at a lobby with nine
elevators,
as well as several storage
rooms and lounges. Down dual stairways with silver-covered railings
is a
large ballroom with 80% of
its ceiling covered in crystal chandeliers.
It features a retractable
showcase for pieces of art, a mount of LCD monitors
and embedded speakers, as
well as stages for entertainment.
The hall
opens to an indoor/outdoor bar, green rooms, powder rooms and allows
access to a
nearby "entourage room" for
security guards and assistants to
relax.
Ambani plans to
occasionally use the residence for corporate entertainment,
and the family wants the look
and feel of the home's interior to be distinctly
Indian; 85% of the materials
and
labor will come from outside
the U.S., most of it from India.
Where
possible, the designers say, whether it's for the silver railings,
crystal chandeliers,
woven area rugs or
steel support beams, the Ambanis are using Indian companies,
contractors,
craftsmen and materials
firms. Elements of Indian culture juxtapose newer designs. For
example,
the sinks in a lounge
extending off the entertainment level, which features a movie
theater
and wine room, are shaped
like ginkgo leaves (native to India) with the stem extending to the
faucet
to guide the water into the
basin.
On the health level,
local plants decorate the outdoor patio near the swimming pool and
yoga studio.
The floor also features an
ice room where residents and guests can escape the Mumbai heat to a
small,
cooled chamber dusted by
man-made snow flurries.
For more
temperate days, the family will enjoy a four-story open garden.
In profile, the
rebar-enforced beams
form a "W" shape that
supports the upper two-thirds of the
building
while creating an open-air atrium of gardens,
flowers and lawns. Gardens,
whether hanging hydroponic plants, or fixed trees,
are a critical part of the
building's exterior adornment but also serve a purpose:
The plants act as an
energy-saving device by absorbing sunlight, thus deflecting it
f
rom the living spaces and
making it easier to keep the interior cool in summer
and warm in winter. An
internal core space on the garden level contains entertaining
rooms and balconies that
clear the tree line and offer views of
downtown Mumbai. The top
floors of entertaining space, where
Ambani plans
to host business guests (or just relax) offer panoramic views of the
Arabian
Sea .
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