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.
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.
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