1. Earth-Sheltered
Home
Xanadu 2.0 took Gates seven years and $63 million to build. Located
in Medina, Washington - USA, The 66,000 sq. ft. estate is a wonder in itself, possibly the most technologically advanced
house on Earth.
The house was designed collaboratively by Bohlin
Cywinski Jackson and Cutler-Anderson Architects of Bainbridge Island,Washington.
The mansion is a
modern design in the Pacific lodge style, with classic features such
as a private library with a dome shaped roof and oculus. The house also
features an estate-wide server system, a 60-foot (18 m) swimming pool
with an underwater music system, a 2,500-square-foot (230 m2)
gym, a 1,000-square-foot (93 m2) dining room, and heated floors
and driveways.
Much of the house is covered by dense trees and is buried
into the hillside in order to control the loss of heat using natural ways. The
stainless steel roof is supported by 500 year old Douglas fir beams and walls
are made of stone, concrete and glass. Despite being 1.5 sq miles in area, the
residence is completely eco-friendly.
2. Artificial Stream
with Fish
Gates has a wetland estuary built outside his home and he
even got an artificial stream created to solve any issues of runoff caused by
the walls. The water is constantly kept full with cut throat trout and salmon
which provide a great eco-friendly look to the house.
3. Personalized Bat Cave
Bill Gates comes as close as a real life human would be to
Bruce Wayne, as they both are billionaires and also have their own bat caves.
Gates’ 3 garages can hold up to 23 cars at once. The underground cave can hold
10 cars alone and is built with steel and concrete.
4. High-Tech Climate
Control
When a visitor enters Bill Gates’ house, the person is
surveyed and given a pin or microchip to wear at all times inside the estate.
This helps the sensors in the house to interact with the chip and the person
can set the ambiance according to his wish and when he enters the room, the
temperature and lighting change according to his/her liking.
5. Hidden
Technological Marvels
Gates is much like a kid with money and he loves secret
things. He has hidden speakers under the wallpapers in the rooms, so that music
follows the guests wherever they walk. The song list is based on the guests’
choice which the sensors pick up via the chip.
The flooring on every floor of the house and gym are
pressure controlled, giving the security a knowledge of who is where in the
estate.
6. Customizable
Artwork
There is $80,000 worth of computer screens adjusted near the
walls of the house run by $150,000 worth of computer devices. This gives the
person in the room almost magic-like opportunity to change the screens to their
favorite painting, play any movie he /she wants or play any video from anywhere
according to their will.
7. The Library with a
gem
Bill Gates’ personal library is housed in a room measuring
over 2,100 sq. feet and it even has a dome over it. The library hosts one of
the most important books in human history, Leonardo da Vinci’s 16th century the
Codex Leicester. Gates’ purchased the priceless book at an auction for #30.8
million in 1994 and immediately scanned and uploaded the whole book for people
to read for free.
Bill Gates really has a great sense of living in which he
not only has the best technologies in his home, but also has systems to take
care of the ecology and environment.The house of Bill Gates certainly has the
best features any house can ever have, and why should he not have it this way,
when he also donates with an open heart. If he tries to make the world a better
place to live for some people, he can and definitely should be doing it himself
too.
Source: deveev.com & Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
