Jeebus! Indian Oil Magnate Builds $2 Billion 27-Story Skyscraper House in Mumbai

This might just be the ultimate in excess. The richest man in India, Mukesh Ambani, has built the world’s largest and most expensive home. Ambani is the head of India’s most valuable firm, Reliance Industries, an oil and petrochemicals giant. The home is 4,000,000 square feet and 550 feet high with 27 stories.

From the Times of India:

“The only remotely comparable high-rise property currently on the market is the 70 million dollar triplex penthouse at the Pierre Hotel in New York, designed to resemble a French chateau, and climbing 525 feet in the air,” Forbes said in its report titled, “Inside The World’s First Billion-Dollar Home.”

“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,” it said.

“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 per cent of its ceiling covered in crystal chandeliers.”

The report said that Ambanis plan to use the residence occasionally for corporate entertainment also and they want its interiors to have a “distinctly Indian” look and feel.

Four million square feet… how could you not feel like an evil archlord living in this place? It’s like Castle Grayskull if Skeletor had been a modern corporate businessman.

Link [Times of India]

Photo credit: Wikipedia

It’s So Simple It’s Genius: Green Affordable Homes From Landfill Scrap

Dan Phillips of Huntsville, TX has built an amazing home. It’s Dr. Seussian and is built using reused and recycled materials. It’s warm, organic, and entirely delightful. 85% of the home is built with items that were heading to the landfill or burn pile. He runs The Phoenix Commotion with his wife Marsha and their goal is to spark a movement helping the working poor build homes for $20k-50k.

People enrolled the program would be required to spend $500 on tools, have a regular job, and no or good credit. They’re paired up with a local building professional and build their home using left over local and scrap material that would otherwise be heading to the landfill.

Dan’s motto is “It’s so simple, it’s genius”. I think that just about nails it. Dan’s a genius with a smart idea and I hope to see it catch on everywhere. We’ll be following this one.

Link [The Phoenix Commotion]

Photo: Hollywood Frame Gallery

Tiny Homes Are Full of Awesome, 100 Square Foot Tumbleweed Tour Video

We love tiny homes here at EarthFirst. Check out this awesome video of Jay Shafer (founder of small home builder Tumbleweed Homes) giving a tour of his 100 square foot home.

There’s Something Special About the Low Impact Natural Homes

As much as I love technology and gadgets, sometimes it’s nice to soak in a shot of simplicity. I think that’s why I’m such a big fan of natural material green homes. I fell in love with the Low Impact Woodland Home last year when I read about how it was built by two guys over four months using natural local materials and $7,000. They used trees cut from their land, local straw bales, and dirt dug from their foundation. The house they built is alive, warm, organic, and pure awesome:

Steve James did much the same thing. He built an uber green all natural round home with the help of friends in Scotland for $7,800 using straw bales and a green turf roof. Here’s a snip from a story about him:

When he’s expecting visitors, Steve James watches out the windows so he can catch the look on their faces when they see his house for the first time. “It’s always the same,” he say. “There’s an intense stare and total mystification, as if they can’t quite believe what they are seeing.” This may be because James’s house is made of straw and has a turf roof covered in flowers.

James is passionate about eco homes and deeply proud of the cottage, which huddles by a loch near Dumfries. His kitchen is made from a cedar that blew over in a Glasgow park. His sink came from a skip. To one side is a Moroccan marbled shower room, to the other are sofas and a log-burning stove. He sleeps in a galleried bedroom. A compost loo and rainwater filtration system complete the picture.

You can check out Steve’s site Envisioneer to read more about how he pulled it off.

Link [Envisioneer] via Neatorama