KEY POINTS:
Anyone wishing to cast their eyes upon Mukesh Ambani's new house will very quickly find themselves with a stiff neck.
The 27-storey tower, still under construction, soars huge and unmissable amid the greenery and quiet of the expensive Mumbai suburb of Malabar Hill.
Ambani is reckoned to be the world's fifth-richest man, and when his extraordinary property is completed in an estimated six months, the US$1 billion ($1.3 billion) building, named "Antilia", will be the priciest house in the world.
Mukesh Ambani, aged 51 and said to be worth US$43 billion, is used to being in the headlines. Usually coverage is about his business dealings as chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, India's largest private company. Often it is about his infamous ongoing squabble with his younger brother, Anil, 49, a fellow industrialist with whom he fell out after their father's death; Anil is said to be the world's sixth-richest man.
On other occasions, it is for his free-flowing spending; last year there was a flurry of reports claiming Ambani had given his wife, Nita, a US$60 million private jet for her birthday.
Now the tower on Malabar Hill, perhaps epitomising the swagger and confidence of India's economically buoyant upper echelons, has garnered both column inches and controversy. For some, it is a bold statement by a man who has never tried to hide his wealth; for others, it is vulgar and inappropriate in a city where more than six million people live in shanties. One local newspaper called it an "edifice to his ego".
When the Mumbai Mirror printed the design for the property, one web contributor, Shailahja, wrote: "It's a great shame that well-educated and wealthy people of our great nation can only think about raising themselves to greater heights, rather than thinking about the basic necessities of many needy people."
Officially, details of the project, designed by two United States-based architecture firms, remain under wraps even now.
But that report in the Mumbai Mirror revealed that the first six floors of the tower will be reserved for parking up to 168 cars, with the seventh floor set aside for vehicle maintenance. Above that will be an entertainment centre with a silver-domed ballroom and a cinema capable of seating 50 people. On the next floor up comes a garden, then three floors with balconies, each with landscaped terraces of their own. The ninth floor will be an emergency room should they need to evacuate the building, while the two floors above that will house a fitness centre and gym. Any guests of the Ambanis will be catered for in the two floors above.
And perched atop of all this will be the family quarters of four floors, home to Mukesh, his wife and their three children, and his mother, Kokilaben. The roof will serve as a helipad for up to three helicopters. There will be nine lifts and perhaps as many as 600 staff.
"It represents the culture of Bombay in the right manner," said Hafeez Contractor, a leading Indian architect who is based in the city but who was not involved in the project. "Everybody in Bombay wants to go high and once you go high you get a sense of space. Some people say it's not in keeping with the style of the other buildings in the area but that is not the culture of Bombay. I'm very happy with it."
The building design is reportedly based on vaastu shastra, traditional Indian principles of space and energy flow similar to feng shui. And the mastermind behind the design is said to be Ambani's wife. She has apparently ruled that each 27 storeys must be designed differently and with different materials.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
* $1.3b: Estimated cost of Antilia which, when completed, will be the world's most expensive house.
* $56b: Estimated wealth of its owner, Mukesh Ambani, who is believed to be the world's fifth richest man. 27 Storeys high.
* 600: Staff who will be employed at the house. 168 Cars will be able to be parked on the first six floors.
OTHER FEATURES
* A floor for vehicle maintenance.
* A silver-domed ballroom.
* A cinema capable of seating 50 people.
* A garden.
* A fitness centre and gym.
* Accommodation for guests.
* The family's living quarters.
* A helipad for up to three helicopters.
- INDEPENDENT
