Bezos’ new estate was reportedly sold in an off-market deal from Colorado-based holding company Lochland Holdings, owned by energy mogul Doug Schatz. It’s home to three buildings, including a main 4,450-square-foot home with three bedrooms and three bathrooms, a 1,839-square-foot guest house with two bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms, and a third guest house measuring 1,815 square feet with three bedrooms and one bathroom. The property also has a 700-meter swimming pool and its own private white sand beach.

Since it was never listed on real estate websites, no updated photos are available of the grounds or interiors, but images from the last sale in 1996 and an exterior photo spread in Maui Magazine give us an idea of what it looks like.

The property is located on a marine fishing reserve surrounded by the dormant lava fields of the Haleakalā volcano, which last erupted in 1790. The deal closed in June, but details were just revealed by local real estate sources, who told The Dirt that the sale was unusually complex. The $78 million price, if accurate, is a record for Maui. Bezos is also said to be shopping for a home for his parents in Montage Kapalua Bay near a favored luxury resort, and is continuing to scout additional off-market properties. He’s currently the second-richest person in the world after Elon Musk.

Mark Zuckerberg’s addition to his massive Kauai estate includes the Ka Loko reservoir, which is infamous for a burst dam incident in 2006 that released 400 million gallons of water and killed seven people on Kauai’s north shore. The reservoir is considered high-risk and has not yet been repaired. The spokesperson for Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, says the couple plans to take the compound and “work closely with a number of community partners to operate a working ranch, promote conservation, produce sustainable agriculture, and protect wildlife.”

These efforts to mollify the community aren’t going over well with everyone. In 2016, Zuckerberg gained some enemies when he constructed a six-foot stone wall around his property that blocked easy public access to Pila’a Beach. In 2017, his lawyers filed “quiet title” lawsuits against hundreds of local Hawaiians who might hold an interest in small areas within the boundaries of his estate, an attempt to force the owners to auction off their lands. In some cases, defendants are even required to pay Zuckerberg’s legal fees. Faced with local anger, Zuckerberg (the fifth-richest person in the world) finally dropped the suit, but the pockets of land were eventually sold at auction.

“This is the face of neocolonialism,” said Kapua Sproat, a law professor at the University of Hawaii, an a 2017 interview with The Guardian. “Even though a forced sale may not physically displace people, it’s the last nail in the coffin of separating us from the island. For us, as native Hawaiians, the land is ancestor. It’s a grandparent… you just don’t sell your grandmother.”

The post Jeff Bezos Just Added a $78M Hawaiian Estate to His $500M Real Estate Portfolio first appeared on Dornob.

Hired to head the design research studio of NeilPryde, a company that makes windsurfing equipment, Stroj had to make a big change from his former life in Europe. It took him the better part of a decade to find the perfect spot upon which to build a permanent residence for himself and his family, perched high up on a cliff and overlooking the churning ocean. Perhaps it’s not surprising that he felt a kinship with this particular part of Hawaii, himself being from Slovenia. Naturally, he hired the Slovenian firm Dekleva Gregoric to create a modern home deserving of the location.

“Perfect ocean view, beautiful cliffs, strong winds, and unspoiled landscape,” say the architects. “Is there any space for a house? It was a very unusual task for us European architects usually dealing with quite dense urban environments. It was hard to understand before its first visit, and easy to respond after some days spent there.”

The solution was fitting several small u-shaped “houses” under a single roof, which itself took the form of a jagged wooden deck that mimicked the shape of the surrounding mountains. This surface is actually accessible and fully walkable, creating a space for gazing out at the landscape while protecting the interior from the wind.

“The roof concept is strongly related to the rough climate with loads of sun and strong ocean winds,” they explain. “The area of the roof is twice the size of the house, so the size of the covered outdoor space equals the size of the indoor space. It needs no air-conditioning, since it is cross-ventilated throughout. The folded roof is carefully attached to the walls of the U-shaped volumes and defines specific spaces.”

The four volumes tucked beneath the roof act as en-suite double rooms, each one opening up to a ground-level deck that overlooks the shore. A fifth volume acts as a garage, while the kitchen and dining room form the center of the house. The concept reflects a desire on the part of the owner to create cozy, private nests for each resident — something that’s more important than ever when you live in such a far-flung place. At night, all of the home’s residents come together to have a “culinary blast,” both for fun and out of necessity, since they can’t exactly pop out to a restaurant whenever they feel like it.

The home is mostly made from local materials, including load-bearing walls that incorporate beach sand into their plaster finish. The folded sky deck integrates the home into its stunning surroundings, offering a place to stretch out in the sun by day and gaze out at the lights of Maui after dark.

The post Clifftop House Features Walkable Roof first appeared on Dornob.