Billionaire Bunkers: The World's Most Exclusive Safe Houses
Cold War bunkers once used as command centers and storage facilities are being converted into survival condos and high-end hangouts.
LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman has told the New Yorker that at least 50% of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest have ‘apocalypse insurance’ - either an underground bunker or a contingency plan in case of disaster. "Saying you're buying a house in New Zealand is kind of a wink, wink, say no more.”
So what are the one-percenters considering?
Peter Thiel's Mountain Hideaway
Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel's dream home is part bunker, part mountain retreat. If Thiel gets his way, his home will be partially embedded into New Zealand's Mt. Alpha. So far, it is just an artistic drawing however. While NZ was happy to grant Thiel residency after he spent 12 days in the country, the local planning departments aren't quite so easy to win over. Thiel's undulating retreat would have "too great a negative impact" on the landscape, counsellors decided. Thield even ditched plans for a 'meditation pod' but that wasn't enough to sway the locals. His ideal home consists of a series of stand-alone buildings, including a lodge for visitor accommodation for up to 24 guests, an accommodation pod for the owner, lodge management buildings, landscape treatment, and water features. The only way forward for Thiel may be in court.
The Oppidum, a former nuclear shelter
The Oppidum was once a nuclear shelter near Prague, a top-secret project between the USSR and Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia) started in the 1980s. It is now being billed as the world’s largest underground safe house and updated with a swimming pool, helipad, and defense system.
The Oppidum shelter is built above and below ground so residents can descend into the bunker and seal it with a blast door in less than a minute. Once the threat passes, they can resume life above ground.
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