Known for his continual antics and occasional music, Kanye West has casually dropped AUD$78.9 million (USD$57.3 million) on a Malibu beachfront property; a mere drop in the ocean for the rapper, who was last said to be worth AUD$2.5 billion (USD$1.8 billion) according to Forbes. Taking minimalism to the next level, the brutalist concrete home was designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando and executed by American design firm Marmol Radziner. Previously owned by Wall Street financier Richard Sachs, Ye’s buying price represents a massive jump from the USD$1.9 million Sachs initially purchased the property for in 2003.
You’ll also enjoy:
Mila Kunis & Ashton Kutcher’s Sustainable Farmhouse Is A Home, Not An Estate
The Budapest Cafe In Melbourne Is Deliberately Wes Anderson
Since his purchase, Sachs has radically transformed the 3,665 square foot property. According to Dirt, Sachs spent millions and seven years of planning and construction to build the three-story concrete home, which is one of the few Tadao Ando-designed properties in the United States. Apparently consisting of 1200 tons of poured concrete and 200 tons of steel reinforcement, the wildly heavy property is supported by 12 pylons driven 60ft into the ground to prevent it from sinking into the sand.
Comprising four bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms, the home is divided by floor; the bottom contains three guest bedrooms; the middle floor is dedicated to shared space with a kitchen, living area, and powder room; and the top floor houses the master suite. Devoid of a yard or garden (and privacy, with the neighbouring homes within mere inches of each other), the home features outdoor space in the form of a lounge area surrounding a fire pit on the second-floor terrace, alongside direct access to the beachfront via a staircase.
Well known for his proclivity to gravitate towards extremely minimalist homes, West’s acquisition of the Tadao Ando-designed brutalist concrete structure seems to align with the Axel Vervoordt-designed Calabasas mansion he shared with estranged wife Kim Kardashian, which was compared to both a monastery and a chic mental asylum. Plus, West has reportedly been a fan of Ando for some time, telling GQ that he became obsessed with the Japanese architect’s Art Island, Naoshima, after visiting in 2018.
Words by John Deckard
