With a net worth of $82.2 billion, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is the richest man in America.
It shouldn’t be too surprising that one of the wealthiest people in the world also has an insanely extravagant home.It took Gates seven years and $63 million to build his Medina, Washington, estate, named “Xanadu 2.0” after the fictional home of Charles Foster Kane, the title character of “Citizen Kane.”At 66,000 square feet, the home is absolutely massive, and it’s loaded to the brim with high-tech details.
Half a million board-feet of lumber was needed to complete the project.
Reuters
The house was built with 500-year-old Douglas fir trees, and 300 construction workers labored on the home — 100 of whom were electricians.
A high-tech sensor system helps guests monitor a room’s climate and lighting.
Kevork Djansezian / Getty
When guests arrive, they’re given a pin that interacts with sensors located all over the house. Guests enter their temperature and lighting preferences so that the settings change as they move throughout the home. Speakers hidden behind wallpaper allow music to follow you from room to room.
The house uses its natural surroundings to reduce heat loss.
Wikimedia Commons
Xanadu 2.0 is an “earth-sheltered” house, meaning that it’s built into its surroundings to regulate temperature more efficiently.
You can change the artwork on the walls with just the touch of a button.
P. S. Burton / Wikimedia Commons
Situated around the house are $80,000 worth of computer screens. Anyone can make the screens display their favorite paintings or photographs, which are stored on devices worth $150,000.
The pool also has its own underwater music system.
jeffwilcox / Flickr
The 60-foot pool is in its own separate, 3,900-square-foot building — the large brown building in the photo above. People in the pool could swim underneath a glass wall to come up to a terrace area on the outside.
There’s also a locker room with four showers and two baths.
