Kanye West has shocked the actual property world by demolishing a $53 million beachfront mansion in Malibu, designed by famend Japanese architect Tadao Ando.
Bought in September 2021, the house, which was as soon as a surprising mix of glass and nature, has seen its worth drop by $14 million as a result of destruction.
“That is going to be my bomb shelter. That is going to be my Batcave,” Ye reportedly informed a laborer through the destruction course of, as revealed in an interview with The New Yorker.
However the mansion, which was completed by Tadao in 2013, was left deserted and is now a skeletal shell, stripped of plumbing, electrical energy and its iconic clouded glass home windows.
West by no means turned the house into the bomb shelter he as soon as had nice visions of. Now, the previous architectural haven misplaced almost $15 million in worth resulting from West’s bold renovation undertaking that by no means materialized.
In December 2023, West formally determined to half methods with the home and bold undertaking altogether, initially itemizing it at $53 million — already $4.5 million lower than he paid for it in 2021. In April, the house acquired a whopping $14 million worth lower, and is at the moment in the marketplace for $39 million. It’s prone to drop even additional within the coming months, sources informed The Submit.
Regardless of efforts to promote the mansion, together with enlisting the assistance of Jason Oppenheim from “Promoting Sundown,” the property stays on the market.
Ando’s once-pristine design has been utterly gutted, leaving solely gaping hollows the place bedrooms and galleries as soon as stood.
The blackened exterior, perched on stilts above the golden sands, stands in stark distinction to neighboring properties.
Along with his spouse Bianca Censori and a staff of “gonzo” laborers from New Jersey, Ye reworked the mansion right into a construction befitting his album “My Stunning Darkish Twisted Fantasy.”
Censori, who holds levels in structure from the College of Melbourne, helped steer the unconventional overhaul.
The transformation included dismantling majestic staircases and changing them with a foam slide.
Laborer Saxon, who labored lengthy hours gutting the house, revealed to the New Yorker, “There was a lot rebar within the concrete. It was completely brutal.” He described Ye’s imaginative and prescient as “easy contemporary and cleeeeeean.”
Saxon recounted the intense situations, typically sleeping on-site and surviving on Clif Bars and Pink Bulls. “I stink, I haven’t showered for 2 days,” he informed The New Yorker, describing the grueling work.
Saxon was tasked with portray over marble partitions and tearing out costly picket cupboards, drastically altering the house’s authentic aesthetic.
The destruction prolonged to toppling chimneys, smashing marble rest room partitions and dismantling the glass balustrade. The home was stripped of its kitchen, bogs, AC, home windows, lighting fixtures, heating, water and energy, leaving it a barren shell.
However there got here a time when Saxon had reached a breaking level, reluctant to vary the floor-to-ceiling home windows dealing with the ocean that had pale from the skin.
Based on Saxon’s recollection, West demanded “In the event you don’t do what I requested you to do, I’m not going to be your pal anymore. You’re not going to work for me anymore. And also you’re solely going to see me on TV.” Saxon informed Ye that he didn’t watch TV. “After which I walked the f–okay out.”
Saxon is at the moment in an ongoing lawsuit with West over unpaid wages.
Earlier than he ended up ditching the property completely and itemizing the house, West’s imaginative and prescient for a “Batcave” included imposing ramps changing stairways and the bomb shelter that he hoped can be the mansion’s standout function.
Ye’s fascination with structure isn’t new. He’s met with famend architects like David Adjaye and Jacques Herzog and even rapped about Ando, whom he as soon as visited with Kim Kardashian.
However in response to architect Kulapat Yantrasast, “To be trustworthy, he didn’t like the home — he didn’t like the inside,” he informed the outlet.
As a substitute, this drastic try at a full redesign aligns with West’s historical past of daring and unconventional selections which have left the as soon as iconic and historic property just about unrecognizable and considerably devalued.