Home Architecture News Kanye West demolishes Tadao Ando-designed Malibu House
Architecture News

Kanye West demolishes Tadao Ando-designed Malibu House

Share
Kanye West deconstructs the Malibu House, a creation of Tadao Ando.
Share
Kanye West takes apart Tadao Ando's Malibu House design.
© 2022 BACKGRID, Inc.

It has been reported that artist Kanye West (now known as Ye) has dramatically transformed his 57.3 million dollar Malibu house into a bare concrete structure. This concrete haven was originally built by the Japanese Pritzker prize-winning architect Tadao Ando for Richard Sachs in 2013. The famous Wall Street financier has been a fan of Ando’s work, stating, “This is not just a house. This is like a Picasso Cubist painting, very important and very rare.”

Currently, West has removed the windows, doors, concrete hot tub, kitchen, and indoor fireplace, altering Tadao’s vision and leading to a price reduction of 39 million dollars, which is a considerable price drop. The City of Malibu had issued orders to stop construction work on the site without a permit in 2021. It has also been confirmed that some other modifications have also included cutting off air conditioning, power, and water, resulting in rusting and stained concrete flooring.

Kanye West demolishes Tadao Ando-designed Malibu House
© Spencer Lowell for The New Yorker

Tony Saxon, the contractor who worked on renovating the Malibu House, has spoken about these unusual requests West has made, like converting the staircase into a slide or painting over wood and marble to create a monotonous color palette and then later instructing to destroy all the wood and marble from the house.

Tony confirmed these statements to New Yorker Magazine: “It’s funny- and not funny, in a way to say, I’m the man who single-handedly destroyed this architectural masterpiece. But I pretty much did.”

This 3-story mansion was originally built using 1200 tons of concrete and 200 tons of steel. All four bedrooms face the beach, and there is a 1500-square-foot deck for recreation. The musician’s wife, Bianca Censori, who has a master’s in architecture from Australia, is also involved in this project, working with Saxon on the renovations.

The controversy around this project stems from the fact that this house is one of Ando’s architectural marvels, while West has been going ahead and destroying the original design and redefining his definition of extreme minimalistic design.

The singer is known for showing interest in architecture in the past and had successfully built a minimalistic house in Hidden Hills with his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, the media has been questioning what prompted him to take such a drastic step this time. West has been around controversy for a while now and these alterations have made his position even more eccentric and complicated in the public eye leaving people anticipating his next move with this Malibu property.

Share
Written by
Khushi Tandon

Khushi is an architect based in Mumbai who loves reading and making videos. She navigates through life with creativity and a strong desire to learn. To her, life is all about exploring and discovering the artist in everyone, a journey full of excitement and curiosity. She is also deeply fascinated by design, innovation, and sustainability, which has inspired her to explore writing as well.

Leave a comment

Leave a Reply

Related Articles
Foster + Partners' $1 Billion All-Electric Redevelopment of Television City in LA
Architecture News

Foster + Partners’ $1 Billion All-Electric Redevelopment of Television City in LA

The Los Angeles City Council has unanimously approved Foster + Partners’ Television...

Wrexham AFC Reveal New Kop Stand Designed by Populous
Architecture News

Wrexham AFC Reveal New Kop Stand Designed by Populous

Wrexham AFC have unveiled the plans for the new Kop Stand at...

3D Prints Community
Architecture News3D PrintingArchitecture & Design

Hassell 3D Prints Community Building with Earth in Tanzania

Architecture studio Hassell unveils an organically 3D printed community building in Hope...

Marina Tabassum to Design 2025 Serpentine Pavilion Celebrating 25th Anniversary
Architecture News

Marina Tabassum to Design 2025 Serpentine Pavilion Celebrating 25th Anniversary

A Capsule in Time by Marina Tabassum and her firm, Marina Tabassum...

Subscribe to all newsletters

Join our community to receive the latest insights and updates!

© 2025 ParametricArchitecture. All Rights Reserved. By utilizing this website, you are consenting to our User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Statement. In compliance with the privacy laws of Turkey and the United States, we recognize and respect your rights. Please be aware that we may receive commissions for products bought through our affiliate links. Unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or transmission of any material from this site is strictly forbidden without prior written permission from ParametricArchitecture.

AdBlocker Detected!

Help Us Keep Our Content Free

Your support helps us continue delivering high-quality resources at no cost to you.

We’ve detected that you are using an AdBlocker. We completely understand the need for a clean browsing experience, but ads help us keep this platform running and continue providing you with high-quality content at no cost.

If you enjoy our content, please consider disabling your AdBlocker or adding our site to your whitelist. Your support allows us to create more valuable articles, tutorials, and resources for you.

Thank you for being a part of our community!