ALTAMOUNT ROAD | Residence Antilia | 173 m | 27 fl | Completed

[Jai]

Xposting from the international forums for the new SSC India Mumbai section.

EDIT -- 18 Oct, 07; the building is slightly redesigned. See page 3. New design on left:





Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, India's largest private sector company, has been mooting the idea of a groundbreaking residence for his family for almost a decade. As is company is leading the charge in Indian real estate, with massive SEZs planned to come up across the country, Ambani wanted his residence, located at Altamount Road, in the heart of Mumbai's skyscraper construction scene, to reflect the future of Indian construction.

The design of the Residence Antilia, as it came to be called, was kept a close secret even after construction started a couple months ago. Several days ago, he finally approved the release of the building's design to the public.


The Perkins + Will-designed 27 storey tower already under construction is planned to be the greenest in Mumbai (in apparent conflict with the Park Hyatt Tower and Lodha Bellissimo, which also claim the tag.) Like most capital projects in Mumbai, and reflective of Indian architecture and ancient Indian Vaastu Design, these buildings are to be garden buildings that, since they are skyscrapers, appropriately embody the garden-in-the-sky concept.

Residence Antilia goes one step further. It is designed as the largest and tallest "living wall" in the world -- a seamless, vertical garden that encompasses all walls of the building climbing to the 40th floor. Within this Vaastu tradition, the spine is regarded as the main source of support of the building, symbolically leading upward toward enlightenment. The various floor planes encombass a variety of garden tiers, terraces, water falls, ponds, recreational facilities, and enclosed, living areas that takes advantage of the most spectacular views of Mumbai and its waterfront.

You can see this goal in even the original plan of the tower:



The building's height is significant. At 245m, it will be one of the tallest buildings in Mumbai. Although it only has only 40 floors, due to the non-standard design of the building, using the Indian construction standard of about 3.5m/floor, it will have the virtual height of a 70 storey tower, and will rival the nearby Imperial Twin Towers in height.

The tower will have 6 floors of parking; several floors of just gardens; a couple "entertainment" floors including a massive theater; 2 floors of guest apartments, and various floors dedicated to the kitchen, laundry and other services. Reliance Corporate offices will be in the bottom floors and the private Ambani family residence will make up the topmost several floors. A helipad is designed on top, but there is mixed reports on whether this feature has been actually approved by the authorities.

Construction is well underway, can can be seen in the skyline. With nearly two floors being added every day, construction is expected to be completed by November, 2008.

Cheers,
Jai

[Cov Boy]

Would love to see some interior shots & whats the progress so far?

[Jai]

Oops, forgot to include the updates...

An update on this project from Architectural Record. Thanks to spyguy for finding it

Perkins + Will Debunks Antilia Myths

October 18, 2007



by Neelam Mathews with additional reporting by James Murdock

Construction is underway, albeit with some delays, on one of India’s highest profile and most opulent projects—the Antilia, a 490-foot-tall corporate meeting facility and private residence in Mumbai. Chicago-based Perkins + Will designed the 24-story tower for business tycoon Mukesh Ambani, whose family will occupy roughly 35,000 square feet in its top floors.


^ The tower features several garden levels and a trellis, which supports panels of hydroponically grown plans, that act like a green band weaving in and out of the building to demarcate different program elements

It seems fitting that for a building named after a mythical island, rumors have swirled about the exact program of Antilia since a local newspaper first published renderings of it earlier this year. Ambani, who is chairman of the petro-giant Reliance Industries, has a net worth estimated at more than $21 billion. Some accounts falsely reported that the tower will rise 60 stories and that the Ambani family would occupy all of it.

“There’s been a lot of crazy things floating around,” says Ralph Johnson, Perkins + Will firm-wide design principal, “but there’s actually a lot of positive things to talk about because it’s an interesting building.”

Among its interesting elements, Antilia will feature a band of vertical and horizontal gardens that demarcates the tower’s different program elements. A garden level will separate the ground-floor parking and conference center from residential space above, for instance, and the outer walls on certain levels will be sheltered by trellises supporting panels that contain hydroponically grown plants.


^ A large garden occupying a floor near the tower’s mid-section will separate the corporate meeting facility and parking levels from residential space above.

In addition to signaling different space uses and providing privacy, these “vertical gardens” will help shade the building and reduce the urban heat island effect. “You can use the whole wall almost like a tree and increase the green area of the site by five or 10 times over what it would be if you just did a green roof,” Johnson observers. “It’s a prototype for buildings of the future.”

Antilia’s roots also draw on the traditional Indian concept of Vaastu. Similar to Feng Shui, the practice orients a building in harmony with energy flows. At Antilia, the overall plan is based on the square, which is Vaastu’s basic geometric unit, and a garden level occupies the tower’s midsection, the point where all energies converge according to the Vaastu Purusha Mandala.

Perkins + Will won the commission for Antilia in 2004, besting Foster + Partners, SITE, Wilkinson & Eye, and Ken Yang. The building occupies a one-acre site on Altamount Road, where real estate prices top $1,000 per-square-foot. Construction had reached Antilia’s mid-section garden, but was halted this summer after a land dispute. Although the delay is expected to be temporary, many Indians nevertheless feel that the residence flaunts the country’s socialist sensitivities—and that it is excessive and ostentatious given that more than 65 percent of Mumbai’s 18 million residents live in tenements.

Others, though, find aspects of the skyscraper to admire. Mumbai-based architect Hafeez Contractor praises Antilia’s efficient use of land. “Occupying less space on the ground decongests the area at the ground level so more trees can be planted,” he explains. “Ambani’s choice will make high-rises more acceptable.”

Note that the tower's design has changed somewhat. The helipad is gone and in lieu of that, a couple more floors have been added:

[Jai]

Some more updates...

Originally Posted by Jai

Some construction pics from 2007:

Taken from the tower site

Originally Posted by Jai

Here's a much clearer construction update - found on youtube by Suncity:

video by akshayjawanjal


The video is dated earlier this month. The pictures posted in my last post were taken from the topmost-constructed floor of the tower.

From it we can get a rough estimate as to how far along the tower is as of Feb, 2008:

[indeglow1]

Dont like the design very mushc though I do appreciate the green elements they have incorporated.Gald that they now now call it his office+ residence-publicizing it as just an expensive house I think was a bad PR move.

[IndiansUnite]

Forbes has published two articles on Antilia along with some new exterior + interior renderings and designs -

No Housing Problem Here

Once he has moved into the new single-family residence he is building for himself in Mumbai, India, Mukesh Ambani will have one of two options when he needs to step out for a quart of milk: He can copter from his rooftop helipad, or he can exit at street level, 550 feet below.

It's a big house.

Originally it was planned to have 45 stories, but the Ambanis decided they wanted more headroom. So, when completed in early 2009, the house will stand 27 stories covering 400,000 square feet. No zoning (or neighbor) problems; it's in the business district. The cost, originally set at $1 billion, is approaching $2 billion. Ambani, head of petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries, can afford it. FORBES ranks him the fifth-richest man in the world, at $43 billion.

The home's amenities include: separate gym for each family member, six stories of parking, four stories of open-air gardens, a ballroom covered with crystal chandeliers, a 65-seat theater, a spa, a swimming pool and an ice room. The ice room has you sitting while snow drifts onto your head, a nice way to escape from the Mumbai heat. Good luck picking out a housewarming gift.

So why did the Ambanis decide to go so big? Turns out the ultrarich aren't so different from the rest of us. They were living in a 22-story building, and it was time to upgrade. With the bigger residence they might be able to entice their two sons to move back after they finish college.

Exterior

Antilla, the partially completed home of Mumbai-based petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries head Mukesh Ambani, will stand 27 stories high and is expected to cost $2 billion. Ambani, the fifth richest man in the world, his wife and three children currently live in a 22-story Mumbai tower the family has spent years remodeling and refashioning to meet its needs.


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.


A slideshow with renderings and designs of the interior can be found here


Inside The World's First Billion-Dollar Home

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-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. 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 from 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.

The second page of the above article doesn't load for some reason.

[Jai]

great find!

[Cov Boy]

Its wonderful and good luck to them all.

[Euromast]

Antila

[IndiansUnite]

The second page of that article is now accessible. It has this rendering in it:

[Euromast]

I hope that after this Tina ambani also nag her husband and Mumbai will have another residence tower like this.

[Bombay Boy]

ready in end 2008 or early 2009 according to a friend of mine whos working on it. mukesh wants it finished asap

[Cov Boy]

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.

Im not against this building but just baffled at the cost as I am struggling to know why its costing $2bn even after reading the above statement.

Even if the interiors are lavish as they sound etc, I still dont think it would cost that much! I knowits an unsual tower, are the architects charging a fortune for the unique design even with green elements?

Does this cost take count of real estate values as well as it net worth?

Perhaps I missed something?

For $2bn you can build an entire city in India and house the many people in the slums who just dont have proper sanitation for example.

[Jai]

Originally Posted by Cov Boy

For $2bn you can build an entire city in India and house the many people in the slums who just dont have proper sanitation for example.

Yeah

Though for what its worth, this is the first article I've read claiming $2 bil. Others claimed $1 bil. Still not chump change, but more realistic

[IndiansUnite]

^ Yeah, All the articles that are popping up google news are reporting it to be worth $2Bn citing Forbes magazine.

anyways, here are two pics taken in July 2007 from Getty Images -







Yesterday I uploaded that video posted by Euromast onto youtube and as of now I've got a whopping 23k+ views

[IndiansUnite]

Here's NDTV's coverage on the Ambani house. They show the same renderings but also show us glimpses of the tower U/C




Some screenshots -

[Illusionist]

Originally Posted by Jai

Yeah

Though for what its worth, this is the first article I've read claiming $2 bil. Others claimed $1 bil. Still not chump change, but more realistic

thats like almost four world class airports ...
crazy money.... crazy rich people..

[TdotTdot]

Originally Posted by Indrajal.com

thats like almost four world class airports ...
crazy money.... crazy rich people..

If this guy has 43 billion, it means he can invest so much more into indian infrastructure. Wonder whats stopping him!

[Jai]

Nice.. its several stories taller than it was in Feb

[Suncity]

Originally Posted by Cov Boy

Im not against this building but just baffled at the cost as I am struggling to know why its costing $2bn even after reading the above statement.

The valuation of the building may not be the same as the real cost to build it.

The median price in South Mumbai is more than Rs 20,000 per sq ft. At 4,00,000 sq ft that comes to Rs 8,000,000,000 (eight billion rupees). Divide by 40 ($1 = Rs 40) and you get $200,000,000 ( Two hundred million). That's as close as I can get about - 1.8 billion dollars short of target. Maybe all those 'green features', special architects and construction cost, luxurious interiors and furnishings will add up to that much.