Beyoncé and Jay-Z certainly made jaws drop last week when news broke that the pair splashed out a cool $200 million to purchase a luxe home in Malibu — breaking a California home sale record in the process.
But that doesn’t mean social-media users are altogether impressed by the look of the property, which was designed by the 81-year-old Tadao Ando — a Pritzker Prize-winning architect who’s among one of the discipline’s most respected names.
“All the charm of an empty Costco distribution center,” said one critic on Twitter of the striking concrete structure — concrete being Ando’s signature materials in his rare designs.
“They could have just bought a prison since it looks identical,” commented another. “Saved money too!”
The family’s new SoCal spread stands on 8 acres in the famed affluent beach enclave. Spanning a massive 42,000 square feet, they bought it from Bill Bell, who’s one of the world’s largest art collectors.
On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that homes designed by Ando — who’s based in Osaka, Japan — are supremely rare with a cult following. Newly popular among the A-list set, with clientele also including Kim Kardashian and her ex-husband Kanye West, there are fewer than 20 Ando-designed residences in the US.
What’s more, the Journal notes, West had aimed to buy this very Malibu home himself last year for a higher sum — until his bizarre behavior and anti-Semitic comments derailed his earnings.
(Still, West owns another Ando home nearby, which he got for $57.25 million in 2021. Kardashian recently visited Ando’s office in Japan to finalize the design of her home in Palm Desert, California before it breaks ground.)
The Journal added that, due to Ando’s famed touch with reinforced architectural concrete, construction tends to be far more expensive than that of a regular home — and clients need to go to great lengths to see the final product to completion. Bell and his wife Maria spent 12 years constructing their now-former home.
But one man’s artistry seems to be another man’s eyesore, at least on Twitter.
“They really spent $200 mill for Prison walls,” kvetched one user, with another saying, “Looks like a mausoleum.”
“WW2 bunker?” said another.
